England women bank on experience for home World Cup bid
The squad of 32 boasts a combined 1,374 international caps, with 24 players who have previously competed at a World Cup.
Zoe Aldcroft will captain her country in her third World Cup, supported by 2014 winner Marlie Packer and Olympian Megan Jones as vice captains.
Emily Scarratt, with 118 caps to her name, is set to compete in her fifth tournament having overcome a career-threatening neck injury, with Alex Matthews and Packer in line for their fourth.
Abi Burton, May Campbell, Mackenzie Carson, Kelsey Clifford, Maddie Feaunati, Lilli Ives Campion, Jade Shekells and Emma Sing are all World Cup debutants.
Natasha Hunt was included, three years after her shock omission from the 2022 squad and having fought back to make herself first-choice scrum-half again.
"It is a rare and awesome opportunity for this group to represent the Red Roses at a home World Cup," Mitchell said.
"It has been a thorough two-year process to select the right blend of positional cover, skill, mindset and connection.
"Every experience and challenge has brought the 32 to this point in their life and career, and they have all earned their place. They should be proud of the opportunity to create history together."
Captain Aldcroft added: "To lead the team into a home Rugby World Cup is an incredible feeling.
"This group have a fantastic opportunity to inspire young boys and girls all over the country - it's something we have spoken about as a collective and we're relishing the chance to do so."
England are odds-on favourites for the competition on the back of an extraordinary run of 50 wins in 51 games with one defeat.
Unfortunately for them that "one" was the incredible 2022 World Cup final (above) when New Zealand snatched a last-minute England lineout - having not contested one all match - as England sought a match-winning try having eschewed a kick at goal that would have tied the scores.
That was the sixth time they have lost in the final - five to New Zealand - with their two wins coming in 1994 and 2014.
Their last defeat in any match before the 2022 final was also to New Zealand in 2019.
After a warm-up match against Spain in Leicester on 2 August, England get the tournament under way against the United States under the lights in Sunderland on Friday, 22 August.
The 27 September final at Twickenham has long been an 82,000 sell-out.
England squad for Women's Rugby World Cup:
Forwards (18)
Zoe Aldcroft (Gloucester-Hartpury, 63 caps)**
Lark Atkin-Davies (Bristol Bears, 66 caps)*
Sarah Bern (Bristol Bears, 71 caps)**
Hannah Botterman (Bristol Bears, 56 caps)*
Abi Burton (Trailfinders Women, 2 caps)
May Campbell (Saracens, 3 caps)
Mackenzie Carson (Gloucester-Hartpury, 21 caps)
Kelsey Clifford (Saracens, 13 caps)
Amy Cokayne (Sale Sharks, 83 caps)**
Maddie Feaunati (Exeter Chiefs, 15 caps)
Rosie Galligan (Saracens, 24 caps)*
Lilli Ives Campion (Loughborough Lightning, 2 caps)
Sadia Kabeya (Loughborough Lightning, 21 caps)*
Alex Matthews (Gloucester-Hartpury, 75 caps)***
Maud Muir (Gloucester-Hartpury, 40 caps)*
Marlie Packer (Saracens, 110 caps)***
Morwenna Talling (Sale Sharks, 22 caps)*
Abbie Ward (Bristol Bears, 74 caps)**
Backs (14)
Holly Aitchison (Sale Sharks, 40 caps)*
Jess Breach (Saracens, 45 caps)*
Abby Dow (Unattached, 52 caps)*
Zoe Harrison (Saracens, 57 caps)**
Tatyana Heard (Gloucester-Hartpury, 29 caps)*
Natasha Hunt (Gloucester-Hartpury, 80 caps)**
Megan Jones (Trailfinders Women, 25 caps)*
Ellie Kildunne (Harlequins, 52 caps)*
Claudia Moloney-MacDonald (Exeter Chiefs, 35 caps)*
Lucy Packer (Harlequins, 31 caps)*
Helena Rowland (Loughborough Lightning, 39 caps)*
Emily Scarratt (Loughborough Lightning, 118 caps)****
Jade Shekells (Gloucester-Hartpury, 2 caps)
Emma Sing (Gloucester-Hartpury, 8 caps)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RTÉ News
2 minutes ago
- RTÉ News
Denis Fogarty: Ireland are 'quite confident' of Aoife Wafer's return during upcoming Rugby World Cup
Ireland assistant coach Denis Fogarty insists that Ireland are confident talismanic forward Aoife Wafer will be fit to return to action at some stage during the upcoming World Cup. The 2025 Six Nations Player of the Year recently underwent a procedure for a knee injury sustained during the pre-season and is a major doubt for Ireland's pool stage clashes with Japan, Spain and New Zealand. Wafer tore her posterior cruciate ligament against Wales in the Six Nations, and later damaged her medial cruciate ligament upon returning to training, making her a major doubt for the tournament in England, which begins on 22 August. However, speaking to the media ahead of the World Cup warm-up clash with Scotland on Saturday, Fogarty was optimistic about the chances of the Wexford woman's return. "We're quite confident that she will play some part in the World Cup which is really pleasing," said Fogarty. "At the moment she's tracking really well, it's making sure it's right for her, as a player, when she comes back into it. "She's got a procedure done so she's definitely not ruled out of the World Cup yet. We're taking it week by week in terms of when her return to play is, but she's not ruled out of the World Cup anyway." Ireland have already suffered hammer blows in losing fellow marquee forwards Erin King and Dorothy Wall after injuries sustained during the Six Nations, but Fogarty accepts that such losses are part and parcel of the game. "There's no doubt about it, losing key players like that [Aoife Wafer, Dorothy Wall and Erin King] can be difficult but that's the nature of the game and sport. But we've had Sam [Monaghan] come back in which is a big addition for us," he added. "There's been other girls coming through who have really impressed us throughout the camp as well but with injuries like that they're always going to come. "They're not ideal, going into a World Cup, but it's something we have to deal and adapt with as well and that is something we have done over the last couple of weeks." Ireland's recent evolution under Scott Bemand has been off the back of bolting young talents rising to the challenge of international rugby with ease. Having coached the Clovers in the recent Celtic Challenge competitions, Fogarty has watched some of the prodigious talent coming through the ranks. "These young players have come in and have built throughout the number of weeks they've been around. I would have had a lot of them with Celtic Challenge and known a lot about them," he noted. "It's an exciting time. The players that are in are well able for this, that's one side of it. But they're physically able for it and if they can do it here, they can do it against the teams we are facing." Hooker Cliodhna Moloney says Ireland are hoping to get the fans on board during their upcoming warm-up games for the World Cup - a tournament Aoife Wafer is now expected to play some part in, despite undergoing knee surgery #RWC2025 — RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) July 30, 2025 Ireland now face into a two-week run of warm-up fixtures ahead of the World Cup. First, they take on Scotland in Virgin Media Park in Cork this coming Saturday, before a difficult assignment against Canada in the Affidea Stadium in Belfast on 9 August. Scotland defeated Ireland in the final round of the Six Nations back in April, which Fogarty acknowledges will have focused the minds ahead of their next fixture. "Scotland got one over on us in the last game of the Six Nations, so it's definitely been a focus in making sure we get our performance right," said the former Munster hooker. "Working on things that we probably didn't get right over the Six Nations, or want to get better at. That's been the focus of this week." "Then with Canada being an incredibly physical team with incredible athletes, it will be a really, really big test for us going into the World Cup which is really important for us."
Irish Examiner
3 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Fear for FAI staff as 'Business Transformational Plan' looms
FAI staff fear for redundancies after the organisation confirmed a 'Business Transformational Plan' will be presented to the board for approval next month. Speculation over a reduction in headcount has been ongoing as the association's debt levels have plateaued at €40m in recent years. Pointedly, chief executive David Courell pivoted from a position of ruling out layoffs last year to leaving open the possibility when he last addressed the media in April. Latest available figures from annual accounts quantify staff levels at 251, amounting to payroll costs of €13.6m. Losing their playoff against Wales for this year's Women's Euros in Switzerland denied the FAI a minimum of €2m in prize-money while a successful path through a qualification beginning in September for next year's men's World Cup in USA, Canada and Mexico would expect to gross at least €10m. Heimir Hallgrímsson's Ireland are third seeds behind Portugal and Hungary in a group where runners-up secures a route to the finals through the playoffs. The FAI's staff engagement committee, comprised of employee representatives, were informed of the upcoming transformational plan this week at headquarters. Details were sketchy but the anticipation is a restructuring process ultimately leading to a lower workforce. It remains to be seen if there's a voluntary aspect to job losses. 'Our senior leadership team have been working for quite some time now looking at how, as an organisation, we're structured to be as effective as we can be,' said Courell three months ago. 'We have big ambitions for Irish football and want to make sure we're aligned to deliver on those. 'We were entering into a review of how we would structure our organisation to deliver our pathways plan. 'We're also nearing a construct of what 2026 to 2029 strategy will look like, taking the opportunity to look at how we're structured as an organisation to ensure we're set up in the best way to deliver locally, regionally, nationally - making sure that we're as efficient as we can be as a not-for-profit organisation.' Connected but separate to the FAI, it's understood the Cork-based Education Training Board (ETB) course for budding footballers is being discontinued. The course currently employs four coordinators - ex-Cork City players Stuart Ashton, Dave Hill, Ian Turner and Mark McNulty. It is not yet clear whether the quartet will be redeployed.
Extra.ie
4 hours ago
- Extra.ie
Fogarty provides positive Aoife Wafer update ahead of RWC warm-up games
The World Cup is just around the corner now and the main talk around the Ireland camp is the health of Aoife Wafer. Wafer, the reigning Women's Six Nations Player of the Tournament is one of the best players in Europe at just 22-years old heading into this tournament and there's a lot of expectations on her to help Ireland achieve a high finish this year. That's why it came as worrying news that she had knee issues and was a doubt for the opener against Japan on August 24. She has since received a 'procedure' as Ireland Scrum Coach Denis Fogarty has put it in a press conference at the IRFU High Performance Centre ahead of the Scotland warm-up game this weekend. Aoife Wafer. Pic: INPHO/Ben Brady 'So she's got a procedure done,' Fogarty said. 'So she's definitely not ruled out of the World Cup yet, but we're taking it week by week in terms of when her return to play. But she's not ruled out in anyway.' When asked was Wafer in a race against time, Fogarty calmed the nerves of many Irish fans with his response. Scrum coach Denis Fogarty. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile 'No, we're quite confident that she will play some part of the World Cup, which is really really pleasing…. She's trekking really well. It's just a making sure it's right for her as a player when she comes back into it.' Ireland now have two warm-up games in the coming weeks ahead of the World Cup. Firstly they come up against Scotland at Virgin Media Park in Cork before they go to Belfast to Affidea Park to face Canada next weekend. The Scotland game has a particular marker on it as Ireland will be out to avenge their loss to Scotland in the final game of this year's Six Nations. Ireland, depleted by numerous injuries at that point, fell short of their expectations and loss to a try in the last play in Edinburgh. Pic: Paul Devlin/Sportsfile All involved were hugely disappointed to lose that day and with the Scots coming to Cork off the back of a 34-29 defeat to Italy, Ireland smell blood. After the disappointment of failing to make the last edition of the World Cup, Ireland will look to make up for lost time and make an impact in England. Head Coach Scott Bemand will select his squad for the World Cup on August 11.
