England name unchanged XV for World Cup opener

Women's Rugby World Cup: England v United States

Venue: Stadium of Light, Sunderland Date: Friday, 22 August Kick-off: 19:30 BST

Coverage: Live connected BBC One, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Sport website and app.

England person named a powerful, unchanged starting XV for Friday's opening crippled of nan Women's Rugby World Cup against nan United States successful Sunderland.

Head coach John Mitchell has stuck pinch nan aforesaid broadside that started nan victory complete France connected 9 August, which was nan Red Roses' past warm-up crippled earlier nan tournament.

Mitchell enjoys unrivalled spot successful extent and has put retired an uncompromising squad pinch Zoe Harrison's strategical smarts astatine 10.

Ilona Maher, who is nan most-followed rugby subordinate ever connected societal media pinch 8.8m followers crossed Instagram and TikTok, starts astatine extracurricular centre for nan USA.

Captain Zoe Aldcroft will lead England retired astatine a location World Cup from blind-side flanker, pinch 2014 World Cup-winner Alex Matthews starting astatine number eight.

Among nan replacements is different World Cup-winner, Emily Scarratt, who could go nan first English rugby national subordinate to play successful 5 World Cups, having made her debut nan past clip England hosted nan tourney successful 2010.

Scarratt's inclusion successful spot of Helena Rowland is nan only alteration to nan matchday squad that ran retired 40-6 winners successful Mont-de-Marsan.

Holly Aitchison, Harrison's rival for nan fly-half role, is unavailable done wounded arsenic is helping Claudia Moloney-MacDonald and versatile backmost Rowland.

All 3 could return successful clip for England's 2nd excavation crippled against Samoa.

Loughborough Lightning's Sadia Kabeya starts astatine open-side flanker alternatively of erstwhile skipper Marlie Packer, who misses retired connected a spot successful nan 23 contempt serving her one-match ban.

Even without Packer, it is simply a squad afloat of experience, pinch 1,159 caps betwixt them.

"Ultimately we are trying to build cohesion, we are coming retired of pre-season, not for illustration nan confederate hemisphere teams who person played a batch of rugby," said Mitchell.

"We are conscionable building and it is really important to make judge you create combinations that players are acquainted with.

"With nan number of caps dispersed among that group of girls that is simply a batch of acquisition and belief. You person to play those cards successful a tourney for illustration this."

A grounds crowd for a Women's Rugby World Cup opening lucifer is expected pinch much than 40,000 tickets sold for nan crippled astatine Stadium of Light.

The attendance could moreover surpass nan grounds of 42,579 for a Women's Rugby World Cup match, which was group astatine nan 2022 final.

England, who are favourites to triumph nan tournament, are connected a 27-game winning run, pinch their past conclusion coming against New Zealand successful that last 3 years ago.

Locks Abbie Ward and Morwenna Talling proceed successful nan 2nd row, pinch Hannah Botterman, Amy Cokayne and Maud Muir making up nan beforehand row.

Vice-captain Megan Jones starts alongside established midfield partner Tatyana Heard, while Natasha Hunt and Harrison are again nan preferred half-back combination.

Jessica Breach, Abby Dow and Ellie Kildunne scored a mixed 18 tries successful past year's Six Nations and shape a lethal backmost three.

Kelsey Clifford, Maddie Feaunati and Emma Sing are group for their World Cup debuts from nan bench.

Fly-half McKenzie Hawkins is nan only personnel of nan USA starting XV without a nine relationship to England.

Exeter prop Hope Rogers, Ealing Trailfinders backmost statement Kate Zackary and Loughborough Lightning centre Alev Kelter each start.

Saracens' Lotte Sharp, who won 10 caps for England earlier switching to nan United States - qualifying done her American-born mother - successful 2022, is astatine full-back.

After their Pool A opener against nan US, England's run continues pinch matches against Samoa successful Northampton and Australia successful Brighton connected 30 August and 6 September respectively.

Aldcroft says nan tourney tin beryllium a catalyst to return nan crippled to caller areas of nan state and nan world.

"For women's rugby it could beryllium nan starting constituent to 'boom' nan crippled each complete nan world," she said.

"The summons numbers are perfectly incredible, it is group to beryllium an unthinkable tourney and hopefully we tin get nan momentum down women's rugby and women's athletics aft nan Lionesses' [European Championship] win."

England: Kildunne; Dow, Jones, Heard, Breach; Harrison, Hunt; Botterman, Cokayne, Muir, Talling, Ward, Aldcroft (capt), Kabeya, Matthews.

Replacements: Atkin-Davies, Clifford, Bern, Galligan, Feaunati, L Packer, Scarratt, Sing.

United States: Sharp; Henrich, Maher, Kelter, Mataitoga; Hawkins, Ortiz; Rogers, Treder, Sagapolu, Brody, Jarrell-Searcy, Zackary, Perris-Redding, Johnson.

Replacements: Stathopoulos, Leatherman, Jacoby, Ehrecke, Tafuna, Bargell, Bitter, Ibarra