Recently appointed England Women’s Head Coach Gary Street yesterday named 10 Richmond players in his first England Elite squad of 44.

Special congrats to Sara, Fran and Katie who are among the 12 players to make the squad for the first time. We are very proud! Alice and Jonesey return to the fold after a year out.

Richmond wing Emily Cook, who amassed 33 caps and dozens of international tries after making her international debut in 1999, has hung up her international boots after a series of knee and ankle injuries.

Both England (on 15th) and England A (12th) will take on the USA in December, fixtures that will help the coaching team select their England squad to defend their RBS 6 Nations Grand Slam title for a third year on the trot.

Nice work Flipper! Now all we have to do is to get someone to do the right thing for the club and marry the Scotland, Wales and Ireland coaches!

The terrific ten are:

Sara Anastasi         Lock         
Becky Essex           Lock & back-row 
Karen Jones           Back-row
Emma Layland        Hooker  
Fran Matthews       Centre  
Fiona Pocock          Wing
Alice Richardson      Fly-half
Harriet Slynn          Scrum-half
Katherine Smith      Prop
Amy Turner            Scrum-half

and Tina Lee                Centre   Clifton (sort of!)