Packer takes charge as new-look team emerge

THE headline dominating all the news last weekend was England’s stalwart captain Sarah Hunter retiring with 141 caps after facing Scotland in the opening round of the Women’s Six Nations.

- ROCKY CLARK

It seemed fitting that her swansong for her last hurrah was in front of a passionate home crowd – right where it all began, in Newcastle.

 

The sell-out crowd at Kingston Park was filled with friends, family and fans, who were all in fine voice, and gave Hunter the send off she deserved as England’s most capped player.

And as one chapter on women’s rugby closes, a new one begins. We now enter the Marlie Packer era. She’d already been co-captain, but today she’s got the full captaincy duties for England’s match against Italy.

The Saracens flanker led by example in the one-way traffic that hit Scotland with a hat-trick of tries. Her co-captaincy duties were accompanied by a player of the match performance as she helped England secure a 58-7 victory against Scotland.

This was arguably England’s weakest team as they had a number of experienced players out with injury, stars such as Emily Scarratt, Zoe Harrison and Hannah Botterman to name just a few.

Three of the four props were uncapped with a total of seven new caps in the squad, but this didn’t seem to faze the current Six Nations champions as the strength and depth shown in the English Premiership is astonishing.

In the wake of the news that long-standing head coach Simon Middleton is leaving his role after the campaign it feels like a new- look England team is emerging.

However the style of play doesn’t seem to be changing as England’s familiar game plan emerged after they scored a number of tries from the Red Roses’ dominant maul.