Rugby World Rankings

CHRIS FOY: Northampton have ignited the countdown to another blood-and-thunder East Midlands derby by rotating their squad for the sell-out clash with Leicester.

Lock hopes for a repeat of deafening support at Twickenham as favourites England take on Ireland in Women’s Six NationsThe England lock Zoe Aldcroft calls for the ball as soon as she sees Sarah Beckett has punctured the French defence. The forward offloads to Aldcroft, who beats Émilie Boulard to weave her way to the line for England’s fifth try in the first half against France in their grand slam-winning match at Twickenham 12 months ago. The subsequent wall of crowd noise is what Aldcroft remembers most on a day that broke the world attendance record for a women’s rugby game.The score went on to be nominated for World Rugby’s try of the year and it is clear to see why. It was a fluid and fast-paced attack with its buildup involving 18 passes and five rucks. Aldcroft, who ultimately lost out on the try award to Italy’s Sofia Stefan, is hunting that roar from fans once again this weekend as the Red Roses take on Ireland at the home of English rugby.“Obviously that was one of the most special games I have played,” Aldcroft says. “The record crowd at Twickenham was unbelievable to be a part of. I think just the whole occasion was special in itself. I just remember the roar of the crowd [when I scored], it was super loud.“It is something else. You get that extra buzz, you want to give it that extra little bit. It is just amazing to have so many people in the crowd. It’s unbelievable. At the end we were taking a walk around and taking in everyone being there, all the young girls and young families. It was just amazing to see where the sport had come because we had been used to maybe a few thousand people [in the stands] and then to have 58,000 people there roaring for England was absolutely unbelievable.”Aldcroft will be welcomed back to Twickenham by more than 47,000 fans this weekend. The deafening cheers she experienced last year are likely to be heard again with England favourites thanks to their results so far. The Red Roses have been dominant, securing three bonus-point wins to sail to the top of the table. In the process they have scored 140 points and conceded only 10. The results have been the perfect start to John Mitchell’s era as head coach but there is one area that has not gone quite to plan – discipline.Beckett, the No 8, was shown the red card in their opener against Italy and banned for three games. The hooker Amy Cokayne received a red card after two yellow card offences against Scotland which resulted in a one-game ban. Aldcroft says the discipline challenges come with their new attacking style.“We are trying to work on our discipline, it is not something we want going into a game,” the 27-year-old adds. “We are putting ourselves on the edge and we’re taking risks so that is kind of something that comes with our new gameplan and how we want to play. It is definitely something we have in mind and something we are going to work on for future games.“We do want to front up and we want to take the risk but obviously we don’t want to put ourselves in a deficit by getting carded at the same time. Hopefully as our game grows we will be able to combat that.” Continue reading…

Ireland defence coach Declan Danaher says the first 20 minutes of Saturday’s Women’s Six Nations against England will be crucial to the outcome.

Scrum-half Ellis Bevan has signed a new Cardiff deal, which the region says is “long-term”.

England players and their clubs are growing increasingly concerned by delays and doubts about the RFU’s hybrid contract scheme, amid fears that it may be scaled back or even abandoned.