England Women’s team to face New Zealand in 2nd Test

Sarah Hunter captains England in second NZ test

Street has made nine changes and two positional changes as he looks to build on Friday’s opening 16-13 win in the three Test match series. Only Emily Scarratt, Michaela Staniford, Alice Richardson, Natasha Hunt and Sarah Hunter start a second successive game.

England Captain Katy McLean is rested and will start on the bench, handing the captaincy armband to Sarah Hunter for this mid-week clash. Richardson, who moves to fly-half, has been named as vice-captain.

Tuesday’s clash will also see the Matthews sisters of Francesca and Alexandra start their first ever XVs international match with Fran starting on the wing and her younger sister Alex being given the nod in the backrow.

There is also a new exciting centre combination of Amber Reed and Joanne Watmore, who both made their debuts against France earlier this month, whilst Rosemarie Crowley, Emma Croker and Sophie Hemming form a new front row for this game.

Lock Emily Braund and Saracens’ Hannah Gallagher have also been called up to the starting line-up whilst Wasps scrum-half La Toya Mason has been called into  the squad after an injury to scrumhalf Georgina Gulliver.

“With three games in eight days the key is to keep our players fresh as these matches are going to take their toll both physically and mentally,” said Street. “This is still a strong England squad with over 380 caps in the starting line-up and one that I believe can build on our opening win of the series.”

England head into Tuesday’s match on the back of a thrilling 16-13 victory at Esher. The home side came from 13-3 down in the second-half to defeat the world champions with tries coming from Sarah Hunter and Katherine Merchant.

“We have definitely got to be more clinical on Tuesday,” said Street, whose side are looking to better last season’s 2-0 won over New Zealand. “We made life hard for ourselves and we missed a lot of opportunities, but we are now looking forward to making those improvements.

“New Zealand will once again provide a massive challenge for us and it will be another physical game on Tuesday but we know what to expect.”

England

15        Emily  Scarratt          (Lichfield)

14        Francesca Matthews (Richmond)                        

13        Joanne          Watmore        (Worcester)

12        Amber Reed (Bristol)

11        Michaela        Staniford        (Wasps)

10        Alice   Richardson   (Richmond) (VC)

9          Natasha         Hunt   (Lichfield)

1          Rosemarie     Crowley         (Lichfield)

2          Emma Croker            (Richmond)

3          Sophie           Hemming       (Bristol)

4          Tamara           Taylor (Lichfield)

5          Emily  Braund           (Lichfield)

6          Alexandra      Matthews       (Richmond)

7          Hannah Gallagher (Saracens)

8          Sarah Hunter (C)     (Lichfield)

Replacements:

16        Victoria           Fleetwood     (Lichfield)

17        Rochelle        Clark   (Worcester)

18        Laura  Keates            (Worcester)

19        Rowena         Burnfield       (Richmond)

20        Marlie Packer (Bristol)

21        La Toya Mason (Wasps)

22        Ceri Large (Bristol)

23        Katy    McLean    (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks)

England Women Autumn International Series:

Nov 3, 2012 - England 23 France 13 - Esher RFC

Nov 23, 2012 - England 16 New Zealand 13 - Esher RFC

Nov 27, 2012 - England v New Zealand - Aldershot Army Rugby Stadium - KO 730pm. (Live on www.rfu.com/englandwomenlive)

Dec 1, 2012 - England v New Zealand - Twickenham Stadium - KO 5pm (Live on Sky Sports 1HD)

Tickets for England’s Autumn International Series are available through www.ticketmaster.co.uk, priced at £10 for adults and £5 for Under 16s. This excludes the England v New Zealand game at Twickenham on December 1st as there is free entry to the stadium following the conclusion of the men’s match.