'Turned Down New Zealand' - 5 Talking Points: England Women's Six Nations Squad Announcement

The Red Roses held a press conference today, as Mitchell explained a lot of his selection choices heading into the competition. There are three uncapped players within the selected squad, that will be captained by Saracen back-row Marlie Packer. England begin their 2024 Women's Six Nations campaign on Sunday March 24th, as they travel out to Parma for an opening round battle with Italy.

England's home fixtures mirrors that of the senior men's side, as they take on Wales at Bristol's Ashton Gate, before they host Ireland at Twickenham Stadium. With plentiful excitement building ahead of the opening round, here are the top five talking points from John Mitchell's England squad announcement press conference.

John Mitchell was full of praise for his selected captain, as Marlie Packer gets set to bring up a century of test caps in her next appearence for the Red Roses. The Saracen has recently returned from a problematic calf injury, and could make her 100th England appearence as she leads her side out against Italy, to kick start the competition.

JOHN MITCHELL: "Yes Marlie, I think definitely excited by by the milestone, but she's just the type of person that focuses on the performance. I think it's like anything, getting to your 100th game, as I guess you've just focused on one at a time and never really looked too far ahead. You know, she's definitely excited, we've had chats about it. And, you know whether she wanted it to be overseas in Europe, or at home.

"Either way, she's still going to have that '100' title there, so she'll still get that experience at home in Bristol as well. Playing your 100th game, having done it myself before with my own province, while it's not the same as playing 100 games at the test level, it's, I guess the relativity of it is that it just arrives. Then all of a sudden, you go 'Well', and then people start talking about it, it's a, it's a funny thing, it just sort of just reminds you that you've been in the game a long time.

"How you get there is probably a bit like climbing Everest isn't it, you don't always just go straight to the top, you go down and up, down and up, down and up, and then eventually you get there. So I think Marlie is probably a case of that as well. That she leads by example doesn't she, which is something I like."

2. MADDIE FEAUNATI - TURNED DOWN BLACK FERNS TO PLAY FOR ENGLAND

There are three uncapped players in John Mitchell's squad, as the Exeter Chiefs duo of Maddie Feaunati and Lizzie Hanlon join the fray with Trailfinders Women's Vicky Laflin. Back-row Feaunati previously played for Wellington Pride in New Zealand, and trained with the Hurricanes Poua, in the Super Rugby Aupiki competition.

The 21-year-old later turned down the opportunity to play for the Black Ferns, with her career fully dedicated to England. The daughter of Samoan International Zac Feaunati, who played Jonah Lomu in the film 'Invictus', Mitchell explained how he first came across Feaunati. He gave full thanks to the watchful eye of England's all-time most capped player.

JOHN MITCHELL: "Sarah (Hunter) and I were sitting and watching one game, and she said, 'Oh, have you seen Maddie. And at that point I hadn't because my focus is more on the outside backs. And then obviously, we like Sarah had been watching her for a while. And then I went and watched her and I just this really naturally gifted, caring footballer, whose athletic, who's young and can also be a very, very good line-one jumper.

"If you look at the back-row mix, there's some very strong carriers in the back-row mix. So there's two sixes, two sevens, two eights, but the two sixes that we've selected, obviously also can play eight as well. So, yeah, we've invested in what we think is a very, very good caring athlete.

"She's come from good character as well, Exeter speak very highly of her.
So yeah, we're very fortunate that she's also very committed to play for England, her parents lived in England. They're very good too, her parents, and she's always seen the Red Roses somebody that she's aspired to so we're very lucky to have that depth."

"She was in the (Super Rugby Aupiki) pre-season. So she was about to start, I think she had a one warm-up game. So yeah, she's about to start. I think she was also offered a New Zealand (Black) Ferns contract as well. But she turned that down to play for the Red Roses."

3. THE OTHER UNCAPPED TALENTS - LIZZIE HANLON & VICKY LAFLIN

Mitchell discussed the talented prop Lizzie Hanlon and wing Vicky Laflin, who he has called up to the squad in line for a potential England debut. Mitchell discussed how he enjoyed making the phone call to share the good news with the selected players, but also discussed how he had to let a player go who failed to recover from an injury.

JOHN MITCHELL: "Lizzie's in, as Sarah Bern is out. So now Maud (Muir) and Kelsey (Clifford), they have the opportunity to really make that position for themselves. So Lizzie, we've invested in Lizzie because we think she's extremely athletic for a tight-head. She comes from a diving and gymnast background. So she's quite flexible as well. So I think that the amount that she's grown in two camps, I think, a longer period of time with us, we're going to see it and get a good return.

"And they would like to think that, you know, by the time we get to WXV. Maud, Kelsey and Lizzie are looking at Sarah going 'you're chasing us now'. So that'd be the nice equation. But that's basically what I'd like to create. So that's Lizzie's opportunity to seize."

"Vicky's been really consistent in PWR. She's got one of those really nice swerving runs. I think we can add a kicking game to her, but I also think she can become world class in winning the ball in the air. So she's had one camp with us. And her elation today was phenomenal. You get that nice phone call, where you get to say 'congratulations, you made the Six Nations squad, just want to give you time to process it before it gets announced, with family and friends.'"

"Then on the other corner, I've had to ring Katie Buchanan (Exeter Chiefs wing) who missed out because of a syndesmosis injury, that which hopefully we'll see later on in the tournament. So, she's missed out. So I've had to give that news. So that you get the good phone call, and you get the difficult phone call. So Vicky's got the opportunity to seize that now."

4. ICONIC RED ROSES RETURN BUT NOT AN ISSUE FOR THE LEADERSHIP GROUP

England have had a bolstering of Red Roses legends to their squad, as Emily Scarratt, Abby Ward and Zoe Harrison have all been named in the 35-player group. The trio of icons have not featured for England since the 2022 Rugby World Cup Final defeat to New Zealand, and Mitchell is excited to see the players back in the fray.

Mitchell discussed how despite the commanding leadership positions the three players hold, there will be no issues in bringing them in to support Marlie Packer's role as captain.

"Yeah, those girls have been clearly communicated with, to focus on the performance first. My experiences has always informed me that if you allow them to focus and get their performance right first, then they'll naturally lead anyway. To have, to be a leadership group or to have those sort of titles, they're not really relevant to those girls at this present time.

"So we'll continue with our same leadership group and Abby, Emily and Zoe Harrison they can all just get on and focused on their performance and lead naturally through their personality and the roles that they play."

5. MOST DEPTH SINCE MITCHELL COACHED THE ALL BLACKS & CLEALL'S RETURN

John Mitchell discussed how the current Red Roses side has immaculate squad depth, and expressed how he has only seen such vast arrays of quality once before in his coaching career. Mitchell was apart of the All Blacks coaching staff from 2001 to 2003, and compared today's Red Roses side to that of his former New Zealand squad, due to their unparalleled options in numerous positions.

"Probably the All Blacks, is the last time I've had this opportunity. Rugby has changed a lot since the All Blacks in the men's game. So they probably don't have the same depth, that I was privy to back then. So I'm very grateful to be in a position to have the depth that we that we have."

Rounding off, Mitchell has re-called Poppy Cleall to the Six Nations squad, after the back-row was left out of the pre-competition camp that ran earlier this month. Mitchell discussed how he has been impressed by the Saracen's return to top form, as she has taking on her coaching points.

"We wanted her to increase her actions, number of actions. And we also wanted her to win more more carry meters. Poppy's very intelligent. She took on her advice. And she showed examples of shifting. So to me, that's a of a good character to be able to take on the advice and shift. Clearly, obviously, she's been successful with what she's had in the past. And yet she's showing some shift in that behaviour, which to me is a really good example."