3 days ago
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Ellie Kildunne will win her 50th cap for England when she starts against Wales at the Principality Stadium in the Women’s Six Nations on Saturday as one of 13 changes to the starting XV.
Kildunne, who made her England debut in 2017 and has scored 36 tries for her country, will start at full-back after making an appearance off the bench on the wing in England’s 38-5 win over Italy last Sunday.
“She is outstanding, she is the girl that everyone is looking up to at the moment,” said England’s forwards coach, Louis Deacon. “She is such an exciting player. To achieve 50 games for the Red Roses is an outstanding achievement but she has got so many more games to come down the line as well.”
The wings Abby Dow and Jess Breach will round off the back three either side of Kildunne while Megan Jones and Tatyana Heard feature for the first time this tournament in the centre partnership with Zoe Harrison and Natasha Hunt the half-back pair.
In the front row Mackenzie Carson, Lark Atkin-Davies and Sarah Bern start. Morwenna Talling and Abbie Ward come into the second row with Sadia Kabeya starting at openside flanker. The only two players to keep their positions in the XV are the captain, Zoe Aldcroft, and the No 8 Maddie Feaunati, who had a player of the match performance against Italy. Abi Burton, who can play across the back row, is in line to win her first cap from the bench.
The vast amount of changes comes as the head coach, John Mitchell, is testing out different combinations during the Six Nations with the World Cup in mind.
Deacon said when asked if consistency is hard to achieve with so many changes: “To be honest we have trained with both combinations for the last few weeks. So it is not like we need a huge amount of cohesion, it has always been the plan to go with two combinations for the first two games.
“From a training perspective they have spent a lot of time together. A game is very different and pressures are different but we have prepared well this week so I don’t see it being an issue.”
Wales v England teams
ShowWales: J Joyce-Butchers; Neumann, H Jones (captain), Powell, Cox; George, Bevan; G Pyrs, Phillips, Scoble, Fleming, Crabb, Williams, Lewis, Evans.
Replacements: K Jones, Maisie Davies, Rose, A Pyrs, King, Meg Davies, Keight, Metcalfe
England: Kildunne; Dow, Jones, Heard, Breach; Harrison, Hunt; Carson, Atkin-Davies, Bern, Talling, Ward, Aldcroft (captain), Kabeya, Feaunati
Replacements: Cokayne, Botterman, Muir, Galligan, Burton, L Packer, Aitchison, Rowland
Wales have made two changes to their starting team after a 24-21 loss to Scotland last Saturday. The prop Gwenllian Pyrs comes in as well as Gwen Crabb in the second row. The No 8 Georgia Evans, who received a red card against Scotland, starts as she is free to play after facing a disciplinary committee.
The game at the Principality will break the record for a women’s sporting event in Wales with more than 18,000 tickets sold. The previous record was held by the Wales women’s football team with 16,845 watching their European Championship playoff in November against the Republic of Ireland.
The Wales head coach, Sean Lynn, said: “The prospect of playing in front of a record rugby crowd at the home of Welsh rugby is recognition of the growth in the women’s game. The players have been told to be brave and to believe in their ability to compete at the highest level.”
