Women's Six Nations: England leading duo return to face Scotland
Tuesday 10 March 2015 12:05, UK
England have recalled Lydia Thompson and Fiona Pocock for Friday's Six Nations match against Scotland at the Northern Echo Arena in Darlington.
Worcester wing Thompson has not played for England since the World Cup pool game against Spain in August, where she picked up an injury that ruled her out of the tournament, while Pocock has been sidelined through injury since facing Ireland in the 2013 Six Nations.
Thompson and Pocock are two of five changes acting England head coach Nicola Ponsford has made to the starting line-up.
Ponsford rotates her squad with Justine Lucas, Rowena Burnfield and Hannah Field all given the nod to start in place of Laura Keates, Abigail Scott and Hannah Gallagher.
"It's great to welcome Lydia and Fiona back into the squad after their absence through injury,” said Ponsford. "Both are quality players who have proved themselves on the world stage at the 2014 and 2010 Rugby World Cups.
"They are now ready to come back into the mix and I am really looking forward to seeing them back in an England shirt.
"We have made three other changes to the starting XV. Justine, Rowena and Hannah will benefit from more game time, they have been training really well and they deserve the opportunity to start.”
England head into Friday's match fourth in the table after defeats to Ireland and Wales and one victory against Italy. Scotland, meanwhile, are yet to record a win and sit at the bottom of the standings.
Despite their lowly position, Ponsford has warned of the dangers the Scots will pose on Friday evening (kick off 7.35pm).
"We are expecting a physical battle against Scotland," she said. "They have a big forward pack that has put a lot of pressure on the other nations they have played this season. We are certainly expecting them to front up and give us a difficult game.
"For us, we are heading into the match very much focused on our performance. We were disappointed with the execution of our gameplan against Ireland so we have been working hard on how we are going to deliver that against Scotland.”
England: 15 Fiona Pocock (Richmond), 14 Ruth Laybourn (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks), 13 Abigail Brown (Bristol), 12 Ceri Large (Worcester), 11 Lydia Thompson (Worcester), 10 Katy Mclean (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks) (c), 9 Bianca Blackburn (Worcester); 1 Rochelle Clark (Worcester), 2 Victoria Fleetwood (Saracens), 3 Justine Lucas (Lichfield), 4 Tamara Taylor (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks), 5 Rowena Burnfield (Richmond), 6 Alexandra Matthews (Richmond), 7 Hannah Field (Richmond), 8 Harriet Millar-Mills (Waterloo).
Replacements: Amy Cokayne (Lichfield), Victoria Cornborough (Richmond), Heather Kerr (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks), Abbie Scott (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks), Hannah Gallagher (Saracens), Fiona Davidson (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks), Amber Reed (Bristol), Lauren Cattell (Saracens).
