England women eye eighth title on the spin

Led by captain Sarah Hunter (pictured), England are very much the team to beat, having won seven consecutive titles — six of them grand slams.

The fixtures for the competition mirrors the men’s event, so England will host Scotland this afternoon at the Esher Rugby Club.

Elsewhere Wales take on Ireland in Port Talbot and Italy host France in Brescia.

England head coach Gray Street has made a raft of the changes — 17 in fact — with captain Katy McLean, Marlie Packer and Heather Fisher all left out of his squad with a view to the Sevens World Cup in June.

Flanker Hannah Gallagher is determined to seize her opportunity after coming in for the vastly experienced Maggie Alphonsi.

“We will take one game at a time but we want to win it. We want to win all the games,” said the 21-year-old.

“The confidence is high after the autumn international series when we beat New Zealand. Scotland are a very physical side and will try and disrupt us, but we just have to concentrate on our game.
“The publicity for the Six Nations has been good and hopefully we can get a good crowd.

“I am very excited and it will be a hard game. I expect the ground to be soft, but we can adapt to whatever the weather throws at us. We have a great forwards pack and a great backs line.

“Maggie and I are good friends. She has helped me with tips and encouraged me.”