England name unchanged XV for World Cup opener

Zoe Aldcroft was appointed England captain at the start of the year

Women's Rugby World Cup: England v United States

Venue: Stadium of Light, Sunderland Date: Friday, 22 August Kick-off: 19:30 BST

Coverage: Live on BBC One, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Sport website and app.

England have named a powerful, unchanged starting XV for Friday's opening game of the Women's Rugby World Cup against the United States in Sunderland.

Head coach John Mitchell has stuck with the same side that started the victory over France on 9 August, which was the Red Roses' last warm-up game before the tournament.

Mitchell enjoys unrivalled strength in depth and has put out an uncompromising team with Zoe Harrison's strategic smarts at 10.

Ilona Maher, who is the most-followed rugby player ever on social media with 8.8m followers across Instagram and TikTok, starts at outside centre for the USA.

Captain Zoe Aldcroft will lead England out at a home World Cup from blind-side flanker, with 2014 World Cup-winner Alex Matthews starting at number eight.

Among the replacements is another World Cup-winner, Emily Scarratt, who could become the first English rugby union player to play in five World Cups, having made her debut the last time England hosted the tournament in 2010.

Scarratt's inclusion in place of Helena Rowland is the only change to the matchday squad that ran out 40-6 winners in Mont-de-Marsan.

Holly Aitchison, Harrison's rival for the fly-half role, is unavailable through injury as is wing Claudia Moloney-MacDonald and versatile back Rowland.

All three could return in time for England's second pool game against Samoa.

Loughborough Lightning's Sadia Kabeya starts at open-side flanker instead of former captain Marlie Packer, who misses out on a place in the 23 despite serving her one-match ban.

Even without Packer, it is a squad full of experience, with 1,159 caps between them.

"Ultimately we are trying to build cohesion, we are coming out of pre-season, not like the southern hemisphere teams who have played a lot of rugby," said Mitchell.

"We are just building and it is really important to make sure you create combinations that players are familiar with.

"With the number of caps spread among that group of girls that is a lot of experience and belief. You have to play those cards in a tournament like this."

A record crowd for a Women's Rugby World Cup opening match is expected with more than 40,000 tickets sold for the game at Stadium of Light.

The attendance could even surpass the record of 42,579 for a Women's Rugby World Cup match, which was set at the 2022 final.

England, who are favourites to win the tournament, are on a 27-game winning run, with their last defeat coming against New Zealand in that final three years ago.

Locks Abbie Ward and Morwenna Talling continue in the second row, with Hannah Botterman, Amy Cokayne and Maud Muir making up the front row.

Vice-captain Megan Jones starts alongside established midfield partner Tatyana Heard, while Natasha Hunt and Harrison are again the preferred half-back combination.

Jessica Breach, Abby Dow and Ellie Kildunne scored a combined 18 tries in last year's Six Nations and form a lethal back three.

Kelsey Clifford, Maddie Feaunati and Emma Sing are set for their World Cup debuts from the bench.

Fly-half McKenzie Hawkins is the only member of the USA starting XV without a club connection to England.

Exeter prop Hope Rogers, Ealing Trailfinders back row Kate Zackary and Loughborough Lightning centre Alev Kelter all start.

Saracens' Lotte Sharp, who won 10 caps for England before switching to the United States - qualifying through her American-born mother - in 2022, is at full-back.

After their Pool A opener against the US, England's campaign continues with matches against Samoa in Northampton and Australia in Brighton on 30 August and 6 September respectively.

Aldcroft says the tournament can be a catalyst to take the game to new areas of the country and the world.

"For women's rugby it could be the starting point to 'boom' the game all over the world," she said.

"The ticket numbers are absolutely incredible, it is set to be an incredible tournament and hopefully we can get the momentum behind women's rugby and women's sport after the Lionesses' [European Championship] win."

Line-ups

England: Kildunne; Dow, Jones, Heard, Breach; Harrison, Hunt; Botterman, Cokayne, Muir, Talling, Ward, Aldcroft (capt), Kabeya, Matthews.

Replacements: Atkin-Davies, Clifford, Bern, Galligan, Feaunati, L Packer, Scarratt, Sing.

United States: Sharp; Henrich, Maher, Kelter, Mataitoga; Hawkins, Ortiz; Rogers, Treder, Sagapolu, Brody, Jarrell-Searcy, Zackary, Perris-Redding, Johnson.

Replacements: Stathopoulos, Leatherman, Jacoby, Ehrecke, Tafuna, Bargell, Bitter, Ibarra