England name Twickenham team

With both sides having suffered one loss already in the Championship, England to Ireland and France to Italy, a win is crucial if either want to maintain their bid for the title

Head coach Gary Street has made three changes to the starting line-up while on the bench the experienced regular skipper Katy McLean(pictured)comes back in from Sevens duty, having featured sparingly in Houston in the last round of the World Series.

Emma Croker, Rebecca Essex and Lauren Cattell come off the bench to start having impressed late in Ireland last time out.  Croker replaces Victoria Fleetwood at hooker, Essex comes into the second-row in place of Rowena Burnfield and Lauren Cattell will start at fullback with Kay Wilson on the bench.Lichfield No. 8 Sarah Hunter will once again captain England with scrum-half La Toya Mason named as vice-captain.The game is being shown live on the BBC Red Button.

Street said: “We have made a few changes for this match but we have retained 22 out of the 23 players who played against Ireland and they now have the opportunity to put right a poor performance nearly two weeks ago.

“Rebecca Essex has shown tremendous physicality since coming back from injury and Lauren Cattell, despite her young years has matured at fullback and will be looking forward to her first experience of playing at Twickenham. Emma Croker meanwhile is very experienced at hooker.

“We have worked hard this weekend on our physical preparations which will be key against a side like France and we know we have the capabilities to get our performance back on track.  Saturday will be a massive game in terms of the championship but we are just looking to put on a performance we can be proud of. We have never lost a game at Twickenham – we love playing there – and we plan to raise our game once again.”

Rugby fans can watch England Women’s match against France for free with free entry to the stadium following the conclusion of the men’s RBS 6 Nations match.

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England side to play France

15 Lauren Cattell (Saracens)14 Francesca Matthews (Richmond)13 Abigail Chamberlain (Richmond)12 Amber Reed  (Bristol)11 Sally Tuson (Bristol)10 Ceri Large (Worcester)9 La Toya Mason (Wasps) (VC)1 Rochelle Clark (Worcester)2 Emma Croker (Richmond)3 Sophie Hemming (Bristol)4 Rebecca  Essex (Richmond)5 Tamara Taylor (Lichfield)6 Joanna McGilchrist (Wasps)7 Hannah Gallagher (Saracens)8  Sarah Hunter (C) (Lichfield)

Replacements:16 Victoria Fleetwood  (Lichfield)17 Laura Keates  (Worcester)18 Roz Crowley   (Lichfield)19 Rowena Burnfield (Richmond)20 Harriet Millar-Mills (Lichfield)21  Georgina Gulliver (Lichfield)22  Katy McLean (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks)23   Kay Wilson (Bristol)