Katy Daley-Mclean, who earned her 100th cap during the autumn internationals in November, the captain Sarah Hunter, Marlie Packer, and Vicky Fleetwood have been joined by 2017 World Cup finalists Sarah Bern, Rachael Burford, Vickii Cornborough, Abbie Scott and Lydia Thompson in the England Women’s elite player squad for 2019.
The 35-player squad includes 28 full-time professionals, supplemented by seven EPS agreements, with players who will come into camps and England training, but not the full-time programme.
In addition, the 2017 World Cup finalist Amy Cokayne will form part of Simon Middleton’s squad under an EPS agreement, allowing her to continue her commitments to the Royal Air Force alongside international rugby duties.
Three players are returning to 15s from the sevens programme as the 2014 World Cup winners and 2017 finalists Natasha Hunt and Emily Scarratt join Jess Breach in the move back to the 15s setup.
“The introduction of full-time contracts will take time to embed but will unquestionably help us to accelerate the development process,” Middleton said. “This is a huge opportunity and we recognise the expectation that comes with the investment. It is now down to us as a management and playing group to meet those expectations.”
Quick guide
England Women elite player squad 2019
Zoe Aldcroft (Gloucester-Hartpury Womens RFC)
Sarah Beckett (Firwood Waterloo Ladies)
Sarah Bern (Bristol Bears Women)
Hannah Botterman (Saracens Women)
Jo Brown (Loughborough Lightning)
Rowena Burnfield (Richmond FC)*
Shaunagh Brown (Harlequins Ladies)
Bryony Cleall (Saracens Women)*
Poppy Cleall (Saracens Women)
Amy Cokayne (Wasps FC Ladies)*
Vickii Cornborough (Harlequins Ladies)
Lark Davies (Worcester Valkyries)
Vicky Fleetwood (Saracens Women)
Sarah Hunter (Loughborough Lightning)
Justine Lucas (Loughborough Lightning)
Cath O’ Donnell (Loughborough Lightning)
Marlie Packer (Saracens Women)
Ellena Perry (Saracens Women)*
Abbie Scott (Harlequins Ladies)
Jess Breach (Harlequins Ladies)
Rachael Burford (Harlequins Ladies)
Katy Daley-Mclean (Loughborough Lightning)
Abby Dow (Wasps FC Ladies)*
Zoe Harrison (Saracens Women)
Tatyana Heard (Gloucester-Hartpury Womens RFC)
Natasha Hunt (Gloucester-Hartpury Womens RFC)
Claudia Macdonald (Wasps FC Ladies)*
Sarah McKenna (Saracens Women)
Leanne Riley (Harlequins Ladies)
Emily Scarratt (Loughborough Lightning)
Emily Scott (Harlequins Ladies)*
Kelly Smith (Gloucester-Hartpury Womens RFC)
Lydia Thompson (Worcester Valkyries)
Lagi Tuima (Bristol Bears Women)
Carys Williams (Loughborough Lightning)
There are six new names named in this year’s EPS, including five players who made their England debuts during the 2018 Quilter Internationals. Firwood Waterloo back-row forward Sarah Beckett, Loughborough Lightning centre Carys Williams and Gloucester-Hartpury centre Tatyana Heard have been awarded full-time contracts, while Ellena Perry, the Wasps scrum-half Claudia Macdonald and uncapped Saracens prop Bryony Cleall are also named under the EPS agreements.
The squad comes together on Thursday at its new base at Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre for January testing, before three-days of training start on Friday before the 2019 Women’s Six Nations which kicks off against Ireland in Dublin on Friday 1 February.
“I am confident that this group of players have the potential to grow into the world-class squad we will be looking to take to New Zealand in 2021,” said Middleton. “Congratulations to all those selected, every player has worked hard to rightly earn their place. As a player and management group, our immediate focus is very much on the Six Nations and the continued development of what is a still a very new squad of players.”