5/17/2023 0 Comments Shout it out sheet music![]() It was not always the slickest performance with several new combinations leading to a few too many handling errors for coach Simon Middleton’s liking. Marlie Packer, Hunter’s long-term partner in the back row, led the way with a hat-trick of tries from rolling mauls in the second half while hooker Amy Cokayne and wing Claudia MacDonald both crossed twice. Some of the demons of their World Cup final loss to New Zealand were laid to rest at a sold out Kingston Park who acclaimed their own Angel of the North in Sarah Hunter, winning her 141st and final cap. This was a thoroughly gratifying evening’s work for England. Hunter enjoys fairytale finish in emphatic England win How do you think we should attack them and impose our strengths? I think you saw that today.” We play a lot of the Six Nations players in the Premiership so he will ask us what do you know about these players. He is very good at letting players lead and have their voices heard rather than imposing the structure he wants. “How can we dominate? What does it look like to be ruthless? That’s something that we try to grow as a pack. “He just gives us this savage mindset,” Bern said. Their scrum dominance was so frightening that it should have come with a parental advisory warning. I love defence and I love set piece but at the same time I love attack and seeing Holl zip those balls around and mix the backs and forwards is really exciting.”Įngland have not quite fully abandoned their set-piece heritage, certainly not while former Leicester second row Louis Deacon remains in charge of the forwards. She brings lots of deception with ball in hand, is it going to the forwards or the backs. “It is very attacking, it is very to the line. Pulling the strings was Aitchison who was so adept at finding the right pass at the point of contact. Leading the way was Packer who made 115 metres off 20 carries while Bern rampaged for 79 metres off nine carries. ![]() That was evident in the post-match stat sheet which showed all of England’s starting pack made at least seven carries. We have got a team of the most amazing ball carriers and handlers. “We don’t want to be afraid to get our back three on the ball a bit more instead of going for that kick territory game. The set-piece is something we still want to grow and get us those control points in the game but just our open play hopefully will look exciting. “There’s more excitement and we had this attitude of let’s go and attack it, which we definitely did today. It has been a really positive few weeks with the squad and it has definitely lifted our spirits. “Our thought process was how are we going to have more variety in our game and the way we play. “With all these new players coming in has really rejuvenated us as a squad,” Bern said. ![]() For prop Sarah Bern, the combination of fresh blood and thinking has helped England to turn the page on the heartache of losing the World Cup final to New Zealand last year. Yet England were far from wedded to the set-piece with most of their attacking play based off Holly Aitchison, making her first start at fly half, playing close to the line. It was not a wholesale reinventing of the wheel that England rode to last year’s World Cup final with the maul still providing four of their 10 tries, including a hat-trick by flanker Marlie Packer. ![]() Just as noticeable was the attacking mindset that England displayed in their customary mauling of Scotland. The prop pairing of Liz Crake and Kelsey Clifford, who helped maintain England’s scrum dominance, as well as scrum-half Ella Wyrwas also made their debuts off the bench in the second half. There were some new faces in the form of loosehead prop Mackenzie Carson, who made her second international debut having previously represented Canada. One chapter in English rugby history closed on Saturday night as Sarah Hunter bade an emotional farewell in her record 141st and final cap but another may well have opened at Kingston Park. ![]()
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