England Women name unchanged squad for Wales match

By Rory O'Callaghan

Thursday 10 March 2016 20:06, UK

England Women's head coach Scott Bemand has named an unchanged squad to face Wales in the Six Nations on Saturday.

England have won their opening three matches at this year's tournament including an impressive 13-9 victory over defending champions Ireland on Feb 27.

Wales, meanwhile, sit third in the table after picking up two consecutive wins since losing to Ireland on the opening weekend of the campaign.

Bemand expects England to face a tough test against Wales' Women, who defeated France 10-8 in the last round of fixtures.

"We believe we have the right squad to take on Wales at the Twickenham Stoop on Saturday," he said.

"We know what an important game this is - Wales will come with confidence after their recent win where their defence was impressive to hold off the French.

"The starting XV have a total of 569 caps between them - that is a significant amount of international experience.

"We have kept building momentum into the tournament, the team has improved with each win and we look forward to having the support of a home crowd, in what is sure to be another tough challenge."

England women: 15 Katie Mason, 14 Lydia Thompson, 13 Lauren Cattell, 12 Ceri Large, 11 Lotte Clapp, 10 Amber Reed, 9 La Toya Mason, 1 Rochelle Clark, 2 Emma Croker, 3 Vickii Cornborough, 4 Emily Braund, 5 Tamara Taylor, 6 Abbie Scott, 7 Izzy Noel-Smith, 8 Sarah Hunter.

Replacements: 16 Amy Cokayne, 17 Heather Kerr, 18 Bee Dawson, 19 Harriet Millar-Mills, 20 Poppy Leitch, 21 Bianca Blackburn, 22 Ruth Laybourn, 23 Leanne Riley.