England Women's A team announced for European Trophy Netherlands clash
MAY
The England Women’s A team to take on Netherlands A in the European Trophy tomorrow (Monday), kick off 3pm BST, in Coruna, Spain, has been announced.
England Women’s A Coach Mike Barnett has made a raft of changes with only Bristol duo Charlotte Male and Marlie Packer and Richmond trio Rowena Burnfield, Kay Wilson and Michaela Staniford retaining their place in the starting line-up. Staniford will also skipper England A as the Red Roses look to build on their 5-0 victory over Italy A on Saturday in Pool B of the tournament.
Barnett said: “We have made several changes so we will see first appearances in the tournament for the likes of Stacy Maguire, Nicola Hoole, Ceri Large, Amber Reed and Sophie Nicolas.
“The Netherlands are very much an unknown quantity for us; we haven't played them before but we do know they had a close game against Russia on Saturday losing 17-10. But they had the bulk of possession and were probably the more cohesive team.”
England A head into the second round of European Trophy games in second place in the Pool B table with Russia currently ahead on points’ difference. With a punishing schedule of four games in seven days England know they must keep the winning momentum going.
Barnett added: “It’s very important for us to maintain the momentum we created from a hard fought victory against Italy and we must approach this game with the same mindset. Our aim is to keep improving throughout the tournament to ensure that we are playing at our best by the end of the week.”
England A
15 Kay Wilson (Richmond)
14 Michaela Staniford (Wasps) Captain
13 Amber Reed (Bristol)
12 Ceri Large (Worcester)
11 Sophie Nicholas (Richmond)
10 Natasha Jones(Lichfield)
9 Natasha Hunt (Lichfield)
1 Monica Lewinska (Bristol)
2 Victoria Fleetwood (Lichfield)
3 Charlotte Male (Bristol)
4 Rowena Burnfield (Richmond)
5 Stacey Maguire (Lichfield)
6 Isabelle Noel Smith (Bristol) VC
7 MarliePacker (Bristol)
8 NicolaHoole(Bristol)
Replacements:
16 Ollie Poore(Wasps)
17 Rosemarie Crowley (Lichfield)
18 Tamara Taylor(Darlington Mowden Park)
19 Jane Leonard (Wasps)
20 George Rozario (Lichfield)
21 Sarah McKenna (Old Albanians)
22 George Roberts (Darlington Mowden Park)
Fixtures
Saturday April 30th - Italy v England, KO 3pm BST, WON 5-0
Monday May 2nd – Netherlands v England, KO 3pm BST
Wednesday May 4th – Russia v England, KO 4pm BST
Saturday May 7th – Finals Day, KO TBC
