New look England side for Nations Cup

England will join Canada, USA and South Africa at the tournament in Toronto which kicks off on July 31st.

The squad also sees a return to action for Claire Allan and Alice Richardson who have missed the entire season with injury. The return of those two backs means there is no place for centre Kim Oliver with England likely to field a different mid-field partnership this summer, to that which featured in this year's 6 Nations, given the omission of Rachael Burford from the overall squad.

The new players in the squad get their chances after impressive performances for England A in the European Trophy with Victoria Fleetwood, Natasha Hunt, Sarah McKenna and Kay Wilson included along with Laura Keates, who missed the Euros due to injury.

The five girls join a squad of experienced players who this year added their sixth successive 6 Nations title to their list of achievements when they won the Grand Slam.

England Womens Head Coach, Gary Street, is keen to make the most of the development opportunity which the Nations Cup offers.

The five new caps have a lot of potential for a great future. This tournament allows them to step up without the stress of it being a 6 Nations or World Cup, said Street.

Whilst we want to win this tournament, our focus to be on performance and their development. The senior players have an important role to play in this.

USA and Canada finished well in the World Cup and South Africa, who now also have the experience of that tournament under their belts, are developing all the time. It was certainly no easy contest when we played them back in 2009.

Our priority will be to work on positional units and maintaining a structured attack under pressure. When you play against very physical defensive teams such as Canada and the USA you have to work at a high level of attack so the Nations Cup is a great opportunity to develop this aspect of our game.

A number of players named in the squad will feature for the England 7s side this weekend at the West Country 7s. Heather Fisher, Danielle Waterman and Claire Allan are all named in that squad.

England Womens Nations Cup Squad

Claire Allan (Richmond)Margaret Alphonsi (Saracens)Rowena Burnfield (Richmond)Rochelle Clark (Worcester)Emma Croker (Richmond)Rebecca Essex (Richmond)Heather Fisher (Worcester)Victoria Fleetwood (Lichfield)Sophie Hemming (Bristol)Natasha Hunt (Lichfield)Sarah Hunter (Lichfield)Laura Keates (Worcester)Jane Leonard (Wasps)La Toya Mason (Wasps)Francesca Matthews (Richmond)Joanna McGilchrist (Wasps)Sarah McKenna (Old Albanians)Katy McLean (Darlington Mowden Park)Katherine Merchant (Worcester)Claire Purdy (Wasps)Alice Richardson (Richmond)Georgina Roberts (Darlington Mowden Park)Emily Scarratt (Lichfield)Tamara Taylor (Darlington Mowden Park)Danielle Waterman (Worcester)Kay Wilson (Richmond)