England absences mount for Six Nations opener after pregnancies and injuries

England are in danger of losing a ninth World Cup winner for the Women’s Six Nations after the prop Hannah Botterman was ruled out of their opener against Ireland with an ankle injury, amid doubts over whether she will play any part in the tournament.

The Red Roses head coach, John Mitchell, said they will have confirmation on Botterman’s return timeline next week; Kelsey Clifford has been selected to start at loosehead at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium.

England are already contending with injuries, two retirements and four pregnancies; Rosie Galligan, whose partner is her England teammate Marlie Packer, the latest to announce she is expecting earlier this week.

“Hannah had her ankle mended in the pre-season, at the moment mechanically it is not quite right,” Mitchell said after announcing the XV to play Ireland. “We are getting it checked. She might miss out on the tournament. I hope not but it is not looking good.”

England remain favourites for the grand slam, however. Ellie Kildunne will start at full-back on Saturday with Claudia Moloney-MacDonald and Jess Breach on the wings. The new captain, Meg Jones, who has taken over from the pregnant Zoe Stratford, is at outside centre.

In the forwards, the new vice-captains Amy Cokayne and Alex Matthews are named at hooker and No 8 respectively, while on the bench Loughborough Lightning’s Haineala Lutui is set to win her first cap. Seven of the starting squad this weekend were in the XV for the World Cup final, with Jones explaining it took some time to reset after the showpiece success.

England had a camp in January that they used to communicate how they were feeling, which Mitchell and Jones felt was essential to begin this next four-year World Cup cycle.

Jones said: “It’s called tournament blues. You have massive elation, [a] huge high and then you get back to reality. It hits you. You have gone from 82,000 to a couple of thousand in the PWR. The adrenaline isn’t quite there.

“It does play on your mind. You are constantly like ‘what now?’ You are always chasing the feeling, it is a bit of a drug. It was important for us to have that realignment camp to basically go ‘how are you feeling? Are you alright?’

“Then it is just touching base and seeing how everyone is. We were all on a similar page and it was so normal not to be ready. It was OK to have different start lines.”

England are attempting to win an eighth Six Nations in a row and Mitchell believes his team have more to give.

“I think this team has already built a legacy, I guess there is an opportunity to build a dynasty,” he added. “It also won’t hurt if we don’t get it right occasionally over the next two years, there are a lot of girls becoming mums, which is fantastic.

“There is a Lions tour in 2027, so there are a lot of factors that will distract our girls along the way. If we do have a hiccup here and there that is also good to learn from.”