England v France Women Live On BBC

England Women’s back-to-back Tests against France this month will be shown live on the BBC.

The Red Roses are playing the French in Grenoble on 14 November and at Twickenham the following Saturday, with both games between the two best women’s sides in Europe being broadcast on free-to-air television.

Sara Orchard will provide commentary for the BBC Two coverage, which is being presented by Lee McKenzie this weekend.

Following the cancellation of the three remaining Women’s Six Nations matches and the postponement of the European qualifiers for the 2021 World Cup due to Covid-19, this is welcome news for the women’s game.

After securing a second successive Grand Slam by beating Italy 54-0 in their most recent match, England will be hoping for more success against the French, but coach Simon Middleton is also planning to use the two-Test series to try different player combinations as the build-up to next year’s World Cup begins in earnest.

Slam-tastic: England celebrate with the Six Nations trophy (Getty Images)

“It’s an opportunity to see where we are as we go into World Cup year,” says Middleton. “It will give us a really good indication of how effective our preparation has been, what we need to do next and where we need to get to.

“We’ve changed our training processes a little bit to look at getting more out of us physically, to bring more intensity and intent to how we play. That’s not to say we haven’t had it previously, but it’s learning where we can get to.

“This is a chance to look at a number of players as we’ll rotate. We want to get eyes on individuals and combinations. Off the back of these games we want to have as big a picture of the squad as possible before the Six Nations.”

England v France Women Live On BBC

Sat 14 Nov France v England (1.15pm, Grenoble) Live on BBC Two

Sat 21 Nov England v France (midday, Twickenham) Live on BBC Two

England Squad for First France Test

Forwards

Sarah Beckett
Shaunagh Brown
Abi Burton
Poppy Cleall
Amy Cokayne
Vickii Cornborough
Lark Davies
Detysha Harper
Sarah Hunter
Laura Keates
Heather Kerr
Alex Matthews
Harriet Millar-Mills
Marlie Packer
Morwenna Talling
Abbie Ward

Backs

Holly Aitchison
Jess Breach
Katy Daley-Mclean
Abby Dow
Zoe Harrison
Megan Jones
Ellie Kildunne
Claudia MacDonald
Amber Reed
Leanne Riley
Helena Rowland
Emily Scarratt
Kelly Smith
Lagi Tuima

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