Women’s Six Nations: England boss Simon Middleton to ‘roll the dice’ with team vs Wales | Rugby Union News

Simon Middleton is prepared to “roll the dice” with his team selection as the Red Roses prepare for their Women’s Six Nations clash with Wales on Saturday; the match is set to attract a record crowd for England, outside of the World Cup, with over 11,000 tickets sold for Kingsholm

England Women head coach Simon Middleton is facing some huge selection choices ahead of the Six Nations clash with Wales on Saturday.

Middleton made nine changes for England’s 74-0 victory over Italy, with Sarah Hunter named on the bench and lock Poppy Cleall shifted from blindside to No 8 and named as captain.

Against a tough Wales team in Gloucester this weekend, the England coach is looking to try the same tactic and will be hoping for a similar result.

“We are going to roll the dice again with the squad. It will transpire that some players still won’t get some game time but that doesn’t rule them out of the last two games,” said Middleton.

England’s Poppy Cleall captained the side in their 74-0 victory over Italy

“I think there is some players that we know an awful lot about anyway but there are others we are just trying to find a little bit more about.

“It is fantastic to have the squad depth but it brings challenges, very good selection challenges but I understand that it is really tough on some players.”

With a potential seventh Six Nations victory in a row on the horizon, and a World Cup just a year away, Middleton is intent on ensuring his squad remain focused on the task in hand.

He said: “It is a stock answer but we are looking at Wales at this moment in time, if you look too far ahead you can get bitten.

“We have got a really tough fixture against Wales, then a really tough fixture against Ireland then a phenomenal fixture in the south of France against probably one of the best sides in the world, so there is a lot of water to go under that bridge.

“If we get our performances right the results will follow but there are three teams that will have a big say in that for sure.

Leanne Infante celebrates Marlie Packer’s opening try

“This is a massive part of our World Cup year but the Six Nations is a phenomenal tournament and we want to win it.

“We take great pride and immense satisfaction from the wins we have had in it and we want another one, but the performances are the key bit, individually and collectively, and they definitely contribute towards us shaping the picture for the World Cup in about six to eight months’ time.”

The selection challenges the England coaching staff face are felt within the squad too, and they certainly do not envy the choices they have to make.

Cleall thinks it is testament to the work the side have put in that they have such strength in depth.

She said: “It is a great side to be a part of, they are amazingly talented athletes and you just look at Sarah Bern running it in from halfway, then you look at some of the tries the backs are scoring such as Abby Dowell and Lydia Thompson.

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Cleall has described the side as ‘incredible’ after winning their last 20 matches as they target a fourth successive Six Nations title

“You know you don’t have to look far when you have three world-class nines, it is an incredible side.

“It is just from years and years of hard work. You don’t have to ask too many people, after the 2017 World Cup they wanted to get their strength in depth, that is three or four years in the making.

“I don’t want to be the coaches when it comes to team selections because they must have a headache, I always see them looking glum in the evenings when they are trying to make their team selections.

“You honestly can’t call the teams, when you open the WhatsApp to find out if you are in the team you can’t call it, all you can do is put your best out there in training so that they can’t miss you out.”

Hunter: Wales are a challenging prospect

England captain Sarah Hunter is wary of the challenge Wales can pose to England in their Six Nations clash on Saturday.

She said: “There are still areas that we want to improve on but in reflection of where we are at this moment in time we are pretty happy.

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England captain Sarah Hunter says the team can still get better despite a run of 20 straight victories as they prepare to face Wales in the Six Nations at Kingsholm

“As we go through into Wales and into the next games, it will be about performance, about us, about how we keep developing and keep moving forward as a squad.

“I think from Scotland going into Italy we wanted to work on our line speed and defence and some of our accuracy in attack and we saw real change in that so I think it is just maintaining that.

“Whenever we play Wales it is a tough opposition, they are very physical, they come at you and I think they will give us challenges we haven’t already faced.

“Our focus will have to be on ourselves and playing the game we want to play rather than being side-tracked or have Wales come and impact us.

“It certainly will be a challenging prospect on Saturday.”