"Anyone Is Capable of Replacing Anyone" - 5 Talking Points: Red Roses' Zoe Aldcroft & John Mitchell Preview Scotland Six Nations Battle

The back-row has instead been named amongst the replacements for the trip North of the border, in what is an interesting selection choice from Mitchell. There was plenty to decipher from the team selection, with three Red Roses confirmed to be out of the plans due to injury. Helena Rowland will miss the remainder of the tournament after having surgery on her finger, whilst Lark Atkin-Davies continues her concussion return to play.

It was also confirmed this morning that Poppy Cleall suffered a laceration on her right knee, which she has been unable to recover from in time for this Saturday's fixture. However, Mitchell is hopeful to see the Saracen back in the white shirt for the rest of the tournament. With plenty of discussions going on in the realm of women's rugby, Aldcroft and Mitchell discussed all from team selection, Scottish expectations, and the reported trialling of smaller rugby balls in the women's game.

The most immediate talking point was the selection of a new captain, as John Mitchell has moved Marlie Packer to the replacements bench for the match with Scotland. In her absence from the starting XV, the Red Roses will be led out by Gloucester-Hartpury's Zoe Aldcroft, with the regular lock even moving across the pack to the blindside flank.

As Packer takes a seat amongst the replacements for her first time in her captaincy, Mitchell reinforced that 'there's no such thing as rotation'. The Saracen centurion looks to have been surpassed to the starting spot this week, with Loughborough Lightning's Sadia Kebeya taking up the seven shirt. Kebeya also has the honour of being first-reserve captain, should there be a moment in the match without both Aldcroft and Packer on the pitch.

ZOE ALDCROFT: "Honestly, it's just an unbelievable opportunity to be able to do it (captain England), I think in the group as it is, there's so many like dominant leaders. And it's just great to be able to kind of be at the head of that and direct the team around the pitch.

"Not particularly (differences playing flanker), I only really recognise it off the off the side of the scrum kind of thing. Packer was giving me some tips not to put the hand flat, but to put it like this (as a first), I got very badly stood on yesterday. So it's just give me some tips there. But no, for me, I just go into the game with the same sort of focus in trying to get around the park as much as I can."

"I think like you can see how much energy she (Scotland flanker and captain Rachel Malcolm) brings to a team, she's obviously a very smiley character. You always see that and I think the Scotland girls really look up to and I think she's a great leader to have playing with the Scotland team.

JOHN MITCHELL: "We want to raise our game and raise our level of performance. We're really mindful about that. Against Wales we felt we didn't finish the game as good as we could have. We want to take ownership of that. There's lots of competition with the group for positions.

"There's no such thing as rotation. This squad is selected for Scotland. The previous two selections were based on the short turnaround which we had to manage, both athlete and team. This squad is purely selected for Scotland."

"It (captaincy) would go to Sadia. All those girls (Aldcroft, Packer & Kabeya) are in our leader group. So we always make sure that we are utilising our leader group, and they're blossoming, they're growing a lot from when they first started. I think they have grown enormously, they're they're good at listening, they're good at challenging, their awareness has grown a lot more.

"So the more exposure that we can give the girls to leadership because as you know, we're not always guaranteed to have the same people on the pitch each week or available. So I think we are just really preparing for every test match as it is. Take it, earn it, but ultimately we've just also got to be ready for in case somebody's not available."

After marking her return to the Red Roses with a 50 minute run out against Italy, England centurion Emily Scarratt was then not selected for the second round of the competition. Scarratt played no part in the win over Wales at Ashton Gate, with the centre reportedly battling through a calf-Achilles injury that has kept her away from her revered best.

'Scaz' has battled back to the Red Roses after a lengthy time out with injury. The Loughborugh Lightning star has pushed through neck, knee and ankle injuries in the past 12 months, to earn her spot amongst Mitchell's wider squad for 2024 Six Nations. Mitchell's latest update on the centurion explains why she has missed out on the trip to Edinburgh.

JOHN MITCHELL: "She is progressing nicely. She still hasn't been able to do a full week (of training). She's come out of yesterday's session well so that's a really good sign. Tomorrow's session will be a lot faster and if she gets through tomorrow that presents a good case for her in the next two weeks.

"Yes, she's training at 12. She still trains at 13 as well because she's got good experience at 13. But the most important message you need to hear is that she needs to be 100% fit. When she's 100% that's a different story, because we have got girls who are 100% fit and that's what we go for basically. The girls understand that they have to be 100% because there's so much competition within the group. Anyone is capable of replacing anyone as far as I see it."

It was announced yesterday that Scotland Women have achieved a first ever sell out of the Hive Stadium, with more than 7,700 tickets sold for Saturday's battle against England. In what continues to be a progressive step forward in the growth of Women's rugby, the Red Roses are primed and ready to experience a historic day for their opponents from the North.

Scotland have been pushing from strength to strength in recent months, having gotten a taste of silverware in the 2023 WXV2 competition. Aldcroft and Mitchell recognise how the Scots have been steadily improving and closing down the gap, as Bryan Easson's side rolled the winning momentum into a first round win over Wales in Cardiff.

ZOE ALDCROFT: "It's super, super exciting and we always want to pack out the stadium. So for Scotland to have their first time at the Hive be sold out, it's super special for for them as well as for us, to have hopefully a few of the English fans going up there as well."

"I think in England, we want to get as many women and girls playing rugby that that we possibly can and to have the World Cup next year only boosts that. Then also, I think the Red Roses as a side we have our grass-roots clubs that were directed to, so hopefully we can grow that as well by getting out into the community and growing that as well."

JOHN MITCHELL: "They're well organized. They'll take belief from what they've built. That's, that's only natural. And now obviously we've got our own fixture this weekend, it's a different context. Like I said, at the start of the tournament, you know, we're about playing the game at a higher tempo, have said at the start of this particular press conference that we want to raise the level of our game, as well."

"We want to put more pressure on the opposition. So we'll just see, see how they can handle that pressure. Ultimately it will be up to them to handle that pressure, but we're certainly looking forward to it."

A slightly left field point of discussion in the press conference, was the talk around the trialled use of smaller size rugby balls within the women's game. The recent U18s Women's Six Nations Festival used size 4.5 rugby balls in the matches, as apposed to the regular size five that have previously been used.

The research is currently ongoing, with data soon to be presented as to whether having the smaller size 4.5 rugby ball helps or hinders the women's rugby players. The data analysts are investigating whether the ball is dropped more at a full size five, and also how the reduced size of the ball impacts kicking within women's rugby. Mitchell and Aldcroft gave their thoughts on the matter, yet had a predominant focus on the task at hand against Scotland.

JOHN MITCHELL: "It’s pretty irrelevant for us at the moment. We use the big ball and we’re quite happy with that. When the smaller ball arrives we’ll deal with that. I’m always open (to data). But at the end of the day it’s not really relevant to us at the moment."

"I don’t want to create a headline over this. At the end of the day, the quality of our work is with the big ball, but if I put on my development hat, these young girls have been exposed to a big ball their whole life. If you’ve got younger girls wanting to come into the game, you have smaller communities that don’t have the ability to play 15s but could do a lot more in school yards with smaller balls, if that gives them confidence to play the game, then I’m all for it.”

ZOE ALDCROFT: “We haven't had many issues so far with a size 5. But we'll go ahead and see what the 4.5 ball will do."

The press conference ended off on a tangent, in discussion about one of the most impressive feats of recent human endurance. Englishman Russ Cook has just become the first person ever to run the entire length of Africa, with his 16,000km journey shared by millions as a sensation of inspiration on social media.

The journey took Cook a total of 352 days, as he ran over a marathon a day and raised over £700,000 for charity in the process. Nicknamed the 'Hardest Geezer', Cook's 16-country journey is one that could well be utilised as inspiration for the England players, as Mitchell previously brought in an accomplished Everest climber to base camp. Mitchell welcomed Everest climber Jo Bradshaw to Pennyhill Park, who reached the highest point in the world in 2016, on what was her second attempt to scale the mighty Himalayan mountain.

JOHN MITCHELL: That was a lady that obviously climbed Everest. A fascinating story for us, because I think a lot of the girls can resonate, you know that in your rugby career, you tend to be up and down. You don't always get it moving forward. You get stuck sometimes as a rugby player. And so do you as a team.

"So I'm sure from what I learned from her, Joe Bradshaw. I learned from her that I think I would probably would have died trying to climb Everest, because I would have tried to get to the top immediately. So her trip to the top to the summit, took a number of times, there was a number of assents and a number of descents and it was quite phenomenal. I think a lot of the girls could relate to that."

"I mean, it's a be a fascinating story (Russ Cook). There's lots of those, but I think you got to be really, really smart around the narrative that you bring in. It's definitely got to be aligned similar to what we're trying to do. But yeah, if we can learn about somebody else's courage, somebody else's ability to lead themselves and somebody else's ability to learn how important connections are, then yeah, we are all for it."