{"id":132368,"date":"2025-09-12T14:16:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T14:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/132368\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T14:16:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T14:16:07","slug":"womens-rugby-world-cup-england-captain-zoe-aldcroft-returns-to-face-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/132368\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s Rugby World Cup: England captain Zoe Aldcroft returns to face Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"

While Morwenna Talling performed well against Australia on Saturday to help seal top spot in Pool A,<\/a> former World Player of the Year Aldcroft completes a balanced and experienced first-choice back row alongside Sadia Kabeya and Alex Matthews.<\/p>\n

Talling, 22, moves back into the second row to partner Rosie Galligan, with Abbie Ward named on the bench.<\/p>\n

Mitchell’s side have proven they can cope without Aldcroft, but getting the Gloucester-Hartpury forward back for harder tests in the knockout stage could prove vital.<\/p>\n

England, who won this fixture 59-7 in April, are strong favourites to progress to the semi-finals, having last lost to Scotland in 1999.<\/p>\n

Scotland are playing in their first Women’s World Cup quarter-final since 2002 after wins over Wales and Fiji, but come into the game off the back of a 40-19 defeat<\/a> by tournament contenders Canada.<\/p>\n

“We are adapting well to different situations, and while we recognise Scotland have improved, we will still believe we can build pressure on them,” head coach John Mitchell said. “This is an exciting challenge that we’re ready for.<\/p>\n

“We trust our girls to be consistent, take ownership of their roles, embrace the occasion, and earn the right to another week in this competition.<\/p>\n

“The enthusiasm surrounding the tournament has been incredible, with support growing across the country. We know Bristol will be no different, and the girls are relishing the opportunity to rise to the occasion.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While Morwenna Talling performed well against Australia on Saturday to help seal top spot in Pool A, former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-132368","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}