England women’s head coach Gary Street admits the Nations Cup is a great development opportunity for his youngsters but is adamant he isn’t taking the threat of USA, South Africa or Canada lightly.
Street unveiled a young squad with the likes of Victoria Fleetwood, Natasha Hunt, Sarah McKenna, Kay Wilson and Laura Keates all in line to win their first caps.
As defending champions, England will be favourites to retain their crown for the tournament held in Toronto between July 31 and August 14.
The majority of the rest of the squad tasted success in the 2011 RBS 6 Nations and Street wants to see his new squad members share that winning feeling.
“The five new caps have a lot of potential for a great future,” he said. “This tournament allows them to step up without the stress of it being a RBS 6 Nations or World Cup.
“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.”
The England Women’s Nations Cup Squad
Claire Allan (Richmond)
Margaret Alphonsi (Saracens)
Rowena Burnfield (Richmond)
Rochelle Clark (Worcester)
Emma Croker (Richmond)
Rebecca Essex (Richmond)
Heather Fisher (Worcester)
VictoriaFleetwood (Lichfield)
Sophie Hemming (Bristol)
Natasha Hunt (Lichfield)
Sarah Hunter (Lichfield)
Laura Keates (Worcester)
Jane Leonard (Wasps)
La ToyaMason (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)
TamaraTaylor (Darlington Mowden Park)
Danielle Waterman (Worcester)
Kay Wilson (Richmond)
