Rugby World Cup: England's Marlie Packer will lead much-changed side
- Published
Marlie Packer missed England's opening pool game against Fiji with a foot injury
Rugby World Cup: England v South Africa |
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Venue: Waitakere Stadium, Auckland Date: Sunday 23 October Kick-off: 05:45 BST |
Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Sounds and online with live text commentary |
Flanker Marlie Packer captains England for the first time in the side's final Rugby World Cup pool game against South Africa on Sunday, featuring in an almost entirely changed starting XV.
The Red Roses qualified for the quarter-finals with a statement win against France last weekend.
Packer and fly-half Zoe Harrison are the only two starting players who retain their place after that victory.
Lucy Packer starts after questions over the inexperienced nine's inclusion.
Wing Abby Dow makes her first England start since her rapid return from a broken leg, while Jess Breach and Sarah McKenna are also brought into the back three.
Usual captain Sarah Hunter is rested as she awaits the 138th appearance that will make her England's most-capped player.
Should head coach Simon Middleton's experiment fail, he will fall back on an experienced bench that features world player of the year Zoe Aldcroft and 2014 World Cup winner Emily Scarratt as they seek victory for a better quarter-finals seeding.
England: McKenna; Dow, Aitchison, Heard, Breach; Harrison, L Packer; Botterman, Powell, Muir, Galligan, O'Donnell, Talling, M Packer (capt), Cleall.
Replacements: Cokayne, Cornborough, Bern, Aldcroft, Kabeya, Scarratt, Rowland, MacDonald.
Tatyana Heard, who made her first England appearance for three years in the World Cup warm-up games, starts at inside centre with Holly Aitchison outside her.
Hannah Botterman, Connie Powell and Maud Muir form the new front row as Rosie Galligan and Cath O'Donnell pair up in the second row.
Morwenna Talling - one of the youngest members of the squad at 20 - starts at flanker and Poppy Cleall takes the number eight shirt from Hunter.
The Red Roses have been top of the world rankings since November 2020 and are on a winning streak of 27 consecutive Tests.
Conversely, South Africa lost both their other pool games and are ranked 13th in the world.
"The game against South Africa is an extremely important fixture as it dictates our passage and route in the quarter-finals," Middleton said.
"It's also the first time the majority of our starting XV start a World Cup match which is something to be celebrated for each individual and collectively. We're all really excited to see how they go."
