Women’s Six Nations 2023: Wales v England match preview, kick-off time, team news & key stats

Zoe Aldcroft of England is tackled by Alex Callender and Natalia John of Wales
England beat Wales 73-7 in a World Cup warm-up match at Ashton Gate in September
Venue: Cardiff Arms Park Date: Saturday, 15 April Kick-off: 14:15 BST
Coverage: Watch live on BBC Two, iPlayer, BBC Sport website and app; also listen to BBC Radio Wales, Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 5 Live; text commentary on BBC Sport website.

Wales are aiming to beat England for only a third time in Women's Six Nations history when they take on the Red Roses on Saturday.

It is a top-of-the-table match between teams who have won their opening two games with bonus points.

For Wales, having beaten Ireland and Scotland, the Triple Crown is within their grasp in front of a sell-out Cardiff Arms Park crowd.

More than 8,000 tickets have been sold for the encounter in the Welsh capital.

Wales have made two changes as they look to keep momentum, Hannah Bluck replaces injured centre Kerin Lake while Lowri Norkett makes her first Six Nations start on the wing. She comes in for Carys Williams-Morris, who is away playing for the RAF.

England had 19 players unavailable before their convincing second-round win over Italy, but welcome back four players from injury, including Alex Matthews at number eight.

Full-back Emma Sing makes her first Red Roses start.

Two players are set to win first caps from the bench, Bryonie King for Wales and May Campbell for England.

Women's Six Nations: Watch best tries from first two rounds

England are top of World Rugby's rankings and are on a 21-match winning streak in the Six Nations.

Wales have risen to eighth in the world and will be looking to repeat the heroics of the class of 2015 when they ran out 13-0 winners at St Helen's, Swansea.

A few faces still remain in the squad from that day, including Elinor Snowsill, Sioned Harries, Carys Phillips, Caryl Thomas, Keira Bevan and Robyn Wilkins.

The two sides met in September in a World Cup warm-up game at Ashton Gate, Bristol, where England ran in 11 tries in a 73-7 demolition of Wales.

That victory also saw them become the first team in history to win 25 Tests in a row, a winning streak that continued all the way to the final of the World Cup, where they lost to hosts New Zealand.

View from the camps

Wales head coach Ioan Cunningham said: "We understand where we are on our journey and we realise where England are.

"We have come a long way, but we have got such a long way to go as well.

"You look at England - they are number one in the world, 32 games on the bounce before the final. They average 65 points a game and only concede five.

"Their domestic league is probably the best in the world so we put that into perspective, but we are also making big strides ourselves and we are excited by the challenge.

"It's a Triple Crown game at home in Cardiff with a sell-out crowd, so we can't wait."

England head coach Simon Middleton said: "Their intention will be to win. You always believe that. I think their ambitions will be sky-high and rightly so.

"It's a great test for us as well. We're developing our squad. They've said it will be a mark of where they are at and we are on the same lines.

"As a team they feel very together, very connected and very strong.

"Whereas before we have been able to overpower them, like we have with a lot of teams because of the physical thing that comes with full-time contracts, that won't be there to the extent that it has been previously.

"It will be an ongoing arm-wrestle, which is great because then it comes down to tactics."

Wales head coach Ioan Cunningham and England head coach Simon Middleton
This will be Simon Middleton's (right) final campaign with England, while Ioan Cunningham is contracted until the next World Cup

Line-ups

Wales: Keight; Neumann, H Jones (capt), Bluck, Norkett; Snowsill, Bevan; Pyrs, K Jones, Tuipulotu, Fleming, G Evans, B Lewis, Callender, Harries.

Replacements: C Phillips, Hope, Hale, John, K Williams, King, F Lewis, Wilkins.

England: Sing; Breach, Tuima, Heard, Dow; Aitchison, L Packer; Carson, Davies, Bern, Aldcroft, O'Donnell, Kabeya, M Packer (capt), Matthews.

Replacements: Campbell, Botterman, Muir, Burns, Beckett, Wyrwas, McKenna, Kildunne.

2023 Women's Six Nations table that reads: England P2, W2, D0, L0, PD 114, B 2, Pts 10; Wales P2, W2, D0, L0, PD 38, B 2, Pts 10; France P2, W2, D0, L0, PD 60, B 1, Pts 9; Scotland P2, W0, D0, L2, PD -63, B 0, Pts 0; Italy P2, W0, D0, L2, PD -73, B 0, Pts 0; Ireland P2, W0, D0, L2, PD -76, B 0, Pts 0;

Match facts

Head to head

  • England have won 11 of their past 12 Six Nations matches against Wales (L1) including each of their past six and have scored more than 50 points in each of their past five, preventing Wales from scoring a single point in two of those games.
  • Wales have won twice against England in the Six Nations with both of those victories coming on home soil, most recently a 13-0 win in 2015 - one of just two occasions that England have been kept scoreless in the Championship (also v Ireland in 2013) - as well as a 16-15 victory in 2009 when Wales went on to secure the Triple Crown.

Wales

  • Wales beat Ireland in their most recent home game (31-5), their biggest victory on home soil in the Championship since 2003 (44-0 v Spain); Wales now have the opportunity to win back-to-back home games in the Six Nations for the first time since 2016 (v Scotland and France).
  • Only France (78) have gained more metres from mauls than Wales (65) in this year's Six Nations, while England have scored twice as many maul tries as every other team in the Championship combined (6 - Wales - 2, Scotland - 1, France, Ireland and Italy - 0).
  • Welsh duo Beth Lewis (5) and Georgia Evans (4) are two of just three players to have made more than three dominant tackles in this year's Six Nations, while only Ireland's Neve Jones (35) has made more tackles without missing any than Wales' Alex Callender (30).

England

  • Since the beginning of 2016, England have won 15 of their 17 away matches in the Six Nations (L2), with their only defeats in that run both coming in France; the Red Roses have won their past nine away games and one more victory would equal the record for most consecutive away wins in the Championship, set by England themselves when they won 10 in a row between 2005 and 2008.
  • England (355) and Wales (274) rank first and second respectively for carries made in the Six Nations this year, while they also have the best gainline success rates this campaign (England - 68%, Wales - 67%).
  • Only three players have scored four or more tries in this year's Women's Six Nations, all of whom play for England; Marlie Packer (5), Abby Dow (4) and Claudia MacDonald (4).

Match officials

Referee: Joy Neville (IRFU)

Assistants: Beatrice Benvenuti (FIR), Maria Pacifico (FIR)

TMO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)

Source: BBC Rugby Union News

About the Author

By adamreeves / Administrator, bbp_keymaster on Apr 14, 2023