Women’s Six Nations Preview: Ireland vs England

England head to Cork looking to make it four wins from four to set up a tilt at the Grand Slam on Super Saturday as they take on Ireland in the TikTok Women’s Six Nations.

The Red Roses were on the back foot for half an hour in Wales before powering away to a 59-3 victory, while Ireland were eventually beaten 24-7 away in Italy.

Confirmation came through this week that 50,000 fans will be in attendance at Twickenham next weekend when England host France, so Simon Middleton’s team will be keen to put in a big performance ahead of that one.

And having brought back a few familiar faces, there will be plenty of players looking to make an impression.

Team news

Ireland have made three changes from the team that was beaten in Italy, with Vicky Irwin returning at inside centre and Molly Scuffil-McCabe back at scrum-half.

The final change comes in the pack where Dorothy Wall has been ruled out meaning that Brittany Hogan comes in at blindside flanker.

England, meanwhile, have rung the changes, with seven new faces in all including a first appearance of the campaign for Natasha Hunt.

A surprise omission from England’s World Cup squad, the Gloucester-Hartpury scrum-half enjoyed an outstanding start to the domestic season to earn a recall, only for injury to keep her out of the first three weeks.

She is back fit now though, and starts alongside Holly Aitchison, with Ellie Kildunne and Claudia MacDonald the other changes to the back line at full-back and on the wing respectively

Up front there is an all-new front row of Hannah Botterman, Connie Powell and Maud Muir, with the two props having made try-scoring cameos against Wales.

Last but not least, Sarah Beckett gets a start in the second row alongside Zoe Aldcroft, having come off the bench early in Cardiff.

Stat attack

• England have won their last 22 TikTok Women’s Six Nations matches, the longest such run by any team in the Championship

• Ireland have won six of their last nine home matches in the Championship, but were beaten by France in their only home game of the campaign so far

• England have won all 19 of their scrums on their own ball while Ireland are the next best scrummaging team with a success rate of 94%.

Teams

Ireland: 15. Lauren Delany, 14. Aoife Doyle, 13. Aoife Dalton, 12. Vicky Irwin, 11. Natasja Berhan, 10. Dannah O’Brien, 9. Molly Scuffil-McCabe; 1. Linda Djougang, 2. Neve Jones, 3. Christy Haney, 4. Nichola Fryday (c), 5. Sam Monaghan, 6. Brittany Hogan, 7. Grace Moore, 8. Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird

Replacements: 16. Clara Neilson, 17. Sadhbh McGrath, 18. Kathryn Buggy, 19. Hannah O’Connor, 20. Jo Brown, 21. Nicole Cronin, 22. Anna McGann, 23. Meabh Deely

England: 15. Ellie Kildunne, 14. Abby Dow, 13. Lagi Tuima, 12. Tatyana Heard, 11. Claudia MacDonald, 10. Holly Aitchison, 9. Natasha Hunt; 1. Hannah Botterman, 2. Connie Powell, 3. Maud Muir, 4. Zoe Aldcroft, 5. Sarah Beckett, 6. Sadia Kabeya, 7. Marlie Packer (c), 8. Alex Matthews

Replacements: 16. Lark Davies, 17. Mackenzie Carson, 18. Sarah Bern, 19. Delaney Burns, 20. Morwenna Talling, 21. Lucy Packer, 22. Amber Reed, 23. Helena Rowland