The two Red Roses stars will miss the opening Women's Six Nations game against Italy on Sunday 23 March for different reasons
Alex Matthews and Jess Breach will not play for the England Red Roses against Italy in the 2025 Women’s Six Nations this Sunday.
Saracens winger Breach is not in the team as head coach John Mitchell is trialling different combinations before the Rugby World Cup later this year.
Related: Red Roses squad for the 2025 Womens’s Six Nations
Fellow winger Abby Dow is also not playing this weekend due to Mitchell’s trial of new combinations.
On the wings instead are Gloucester-Hartpury’s Mia Venner and Exeter’s Claudia MacDonald. MacDonald is returning to the squad after a neck injury.
England Red Roses team to face Italy in the 2025 Six Nations (Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Matthews is not in the England matchday 23 because she was cited for a dangerous tackle during the Premiership Women’s Rugby final.
The number eight was shown a yellow card last Sunday during the final, in which Gloucester beat Saracens to win a third PWR title in a row. Matthews has been banned for three games but will be reduced to two if she passes tackle school.
Mitchell has instead selected Maddie Feaunati at number eight with Marlie Packer and Zoe Aldcroft rounding off the back row. Sadia Kabeya is on the bench.
England are targeting a seventh successive Women’s Six Nations title. They have not lost the last 29 games in the competition with their last defeat coming at the hands of France in 2018.
And while the Six Nations title is important to Mitchell, he has another trophy on his mind.
“2025 starts with the end in mind,” he said. “It’s important to realise we’ll need two teams to operate this year to play 13 Test matches.
“We wouldn’t call it rotation. It’s one team operating as two.
“The planning is very much around that and it would be stupid not to plan with that in mind. So we’ve started with this team against Italy. It has an exciting mix in it.”
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