England have made nine changes to their side for the second match of the WXV 1 tournament against Canada on Friday in Dunedin.
England began their campaign with a resounding 42-7 victory over Australia in Wellington, scoring six tries.
Red Roses interim head coach Louis Deacon has opted to shuffle the pack, perhaps with one eye on next week’s final fixture against New Zealand in Auckland.
Ellie Kildunne comes in at full-back, with Claudia MacDonald starting on the wing, and Abby Dow joins them to form the back three.
Amber Reed gets the nod at inside centre, with Helena Rowland moving to outside centre. Natasha Hunt will start at scrum half, partnering fly-half Holly Aitchison.
A completely new front row features Mackenzie Carson, Lark Atkin-Davies and Sarah Bem. Cath O’Donnell pairs with Zoe Aldcroft in the second-row and Morwenna Talling starts at blindside flanker.
Openside flanker Marlie Packer scored two tries against Australia, and will captain the side again, with Alex Matthews completing the back row at number 8.
Canada made a good start to their WXV 1 tournament campaign, beating Wales 42-22, and will be tough opponents for the Red Roses.
The two sides are well-acquainted, having played 33 times, with England winning 29 of these matches, drawing once and losing on three occasions.
England beat Canada in two home internationals in September, and in last year’s Rugby World Cup semi-final in Auckland.
Despite England winning the last 11 encounters between the sides, Canada recorded a memorable 52-17 victory over England in the 2016 Super Series.
Canada head coach Mark Rouet was impressed with his side in their victory over Wales, and believes they are ready to spring an upset against The Red Roses.
“We knew coming into the tournament it would be a short turnaround after our match against Wales to get prepared for England this week, but we are ready,” he said
“The continuity and maturity of the team is really starting to show. We saw positives in our offence in our first game against England back in September, and a better defensive game in our second match against them. Now we need to combine those and put everything together on Friday to get the result we want.”
England head coach Louis Deacon wants England to build on their victory over Australia.
He said: “We’ve named a team that we believe gives us the best opportunity to build on our momentum after the game last weekend.
“The energy has been positive throughout our time in New Zealand, and it’s been a great start to our time in Dunedin as we prepare for the next round of WXV.
Our Summer Series matches against Canada were the perfect warm-up for WXV and we have no doubt they will provide a stern test once again on Friday night.”
Written by Matthew Luddington
ENGLAND: Kildunne, Dow, Rowland, Reed, MacDonald, Aitchison, Hunt; Carson, Atkin-Davies, Bern, Aldcroft, O’Donnell, Talling, Packer (capt), Matthews
Replacements: Powell, Botterman, Muir, Galligan, Allen, Wyrwas, Heard, Breach
CANADA: Lachance, Farries, Seumanfutafa, Tessier, Symonds, Gallagher, Apps; Hunt, Tuttosi, Menin, Beukeboom, Holtkamp, Senft, Svoboda, de Goede
Replacements: Boag, Kassill, Ellis, Smith, Cline, Pelletier, Schell, Grant
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