England injuries give nine uncapped players Women’s Six Nations chance

England have named nine uncapped players and recalled the experienced Natasha ‘Mo’ Hunt to their reshuffled squad for the forthcoming TikTok Six Nations championship. Injuries and unavailability have ruled out several members of last year’s World Cup squad, forcing the Red Roses head coach Simon Middleton to cast his selectorial net slightly wider.

The 33-year-old Hunt, who missed on the World Cup, has been the form scrum-half in this season’s Allianz Premier 15s and is now back involved alongside Sarah Beckett, Amber Reed and Poppy Cleall. A serious knee injury has ruled out fly-half Zoe Harrison, however, while centre Emily Scarratt is out with neck and ankle issues and the experienced lock Abbie Ward is pregnant.

Among the promising squad newcomers called up to fill the gaps are the 20-year-old Exeter centre Nancy McGillivray and the Saracens hooker May Campbell but plenty of familiar faces remain, with Sarah Hunter and Marlie Packer named as co-captains for a campaign which kicks off against Scotland in Newcastle on 25 March. Scarratt and Ward are also set to be involved in a non-playing capacity, assisting with defence and the line-out respectively to encourage their development as potential future high-level coaches.

In the absence of Harrison and Helena Rowland, who will not be fit until the later stages of the competition, Saracens’ Holly Aitchison is poised to wear the no 10 jersey in the Red Roses’ final campaign with Middleton in charge. The Rugby Football Union has not yet confirmed his successor with his assistant Louis Deacon the only member of the current management team staying on.

Speculation that Deacon will automatically be promoted to the top job, however, appears premature, with Middleton reiterating