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The teams
John Mitchell has named the same England XV that routed France 40-6 in their final warm-up match earlier this month. Zoe Harrison was likely to get the No 10 shirt anyway but Holly Aitchison still carrying a knock ends that debate; she isn’t among the replacements yet.
Strength in depth is the Red Roses’ superpower rather than any individual star (I say, staring at a team sheet on which the first name is Ellie Kildunne; the reigning world player of the year).
Do USA have any hope? Well, they have Hope Rogers – the Exeter Chiefs forward who won a place in the Premiership team of the year last season – plus the experience of Alev Kelter and Kate Zackary. Also, at No 13, Ilona Maher, who’s turned down offers from Hollywood and even the WWE to play XVs rugby at a World Cup. How many people can say that?
England: Ellie Kildunne; Abby Dow, Meg Jones, Tatyana Heard, Jess Breach; Zoe Harrison, Natasha Hunt; Hannah Botterman, Amy Cokayne, Maud Muir, Morwenna Talling, Abbie Ward, Zoe Aldcroft (capt), Sadia Kabeya, Alex Matthews.
Replacements: Lark Atkin-Davies, Kelsey Clifford, Sarah Bern, Rosie Galligan, Maddie Feaunati, Lucy Packer, Emily Scarratt, Emma Sing.
USA: Lotte Sharp; Emily Henrich, Ilona Maher, Alev Kelter, Bulou Mataitoga; McKenzie Hawkins, Olivia Ortiz; Hope Rogers, Kathryn Treder, Keia Mae Sagapolu, Tahlia Brody, Erica Jarrell-Searcy, Kate Zackary (capt), Georgie Perris-Redding, Rachel Johnson.
Replacements: Paige Stathopoulos, Alivia Leatherman, Charli Jacoby, Rachel Ehrecke, Freda Tafuna, Cassidy Bargell, Kristin Bitter, Sariah Ibarra.
Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron (SA)
SharePreamble
So it begins. England go into a home Women’s Rugby World Cup as by far the planet’s outstanding side with an astonishing record of 57 wins in their past 58 Tests. But that one defeat? Yep, the last World Cup final to New Zealand, a setback the Red Roses will be desperate to correct at Twickenham in five weeks’ time. But first they have to get there.
The USA are England’s opening opponent in Pool A, ranked 10th in the world but with the world’s No 1 most famous rugby player in Ilona Maher. The Women’s Eagles are major underdogs (under-eagles?) with a better record in sevens than XVs – they won a bronze medal at the last Olympics, beating a Great Britain side en route – but pressure can do funny things.
England romping to Six Nations and WXV titles is one thing; a home World Cup with all the expectation of not only victory but inspiring a new generation of fans is another. The coach, John Mitchell, has said “every team will rise 10% or 15% in this tournament” when facing the hosts but added that his team don’t mind “being hunted”.
Sione Fukofuka’s physical, hard-running USA side are the hunters at the Stadium of Light. They’ll know their up against it – it’s sometimes said that the best women’s team in the world is England, the second best is England B (pin that up in the dressing room, Sione). But a competitive showing will set them up for their crunch match: a clash with Australia, likely to decide second place and qualification from Pool A, with Samoa the group’s outsiders. For England, only a dominant win will do. Kick-off is at 7.30pm BST.