McLean skippers England in World Cup

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Katy McLean will captain England in the 2014 Women’s World Cup as coach Gary Street names his 26-player squad for the tournament.

The group features five players who will be playing in their third tournament – Maggie Alphonsi, Rachael Burford, Tamara Taylor, Danielle Waterman and Rochelle Clark – while Sarah Hunter has been named as vice-captain. Clark is the most-capped player in the group with 91.

England start their World Cup campaign on August 1 against Samoa and will then face Spain and Canada and Street is pleased with the blend of youth and experience in the squad.

Street said: “This is a really exciting and strong squad going into a World Cup. We’ll be heading to France in a strong position. For several players there is disappointment as they haven’t made the squad, but they are world-class players who have been a very important part of this process.

“We have a good balance of new, fresh players hungry for their first World Cup experience but also several more experienced heads. Alex Matthews has nine caps, six of them in wins against New Zealand and although injuries have stalled her progression over the last 12 months, she has come back well in international sevens and we are excited by what she’ll bring.

“At the other end of the scale, we have five players ready to take on their third World Cup. Danielle Waterman, Maggie Alphonsi, Tamara Taylor, Rochelle Clark and Rachael Burford have all been there and done it and they inevitably have a massive appetite to make it third time lucky.

“We now have a couple more weeks of camp time before we leave for France and we’ll use this time to look to raise the bar even higher and fine tune the details ready for kick off against Samoa.”

England squad:

Forwards: Margaret Alphonsi (Saracens), Rochelle Clark (Worcester), Emma Croker (Richmond), Rebecca Essex (Richmond), Heather Fisher (Worcester), Victoria Fleetwood (Lichfield), Sophie Hemming (Bristol), Sarah Hunter (Lichfield) VC, Laura Keates (Worcester), Alexandra Matthews (Richmond), Joanna McGilchrist (Wasps), Marlie Packer (Wasps), Claire Purdy (Wasps), Tamara Taylor (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks)

Backs: Claire Allan (Richmond), Rachael Burford (Thurrock), Natasha Hunt (Lichfield), Ceri Large (Worcester), La Toya Mason (Wasps), Katy Mclean (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks) (C), Katherine Merchant (Worcester), Amber Reed (Bristol), Emily Scarratt (Lichfield), Lydia Thompson (Worcester), Danielle Waterman (Bristol), Kay Wilson (Bristol)

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Article source: http://edinburgh.stv.tv/118952/

McLean skippers England in World Cup