England Women to play world’s best in Super Series

England Women swept aside all before them in this year’s Women’s Six Nations to secure a Grand Slam – and now they will face the world’s top-ranked teams in a Super Series in San Diego this summer.

World champions New Zealand will take part in the round-robin tournament, which also involves Canada, France and the USA.

It will take place from 28 June to 14 July, with matches played at Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Centre before the final round at Torero Stadium, San Diego State University.

England will play the Black Ferns in the final match – the first time the two sides have met since the 2017 World Cup final.

On target: Kendra Cocksedge kicks for goal during New Zealand’s World Cup final win in 2017 (Getty Images)

Given the one-sided nature of their Six Nations matches, this competition will be a tougher test for England as they continue their preparations for the 2021 World Cup, particularly given the short turnaround between matches.

Related: What does England’s Grand Slam mean to the Women’s Six Nations?

England head coach Simon Middleton says: “This year’s summer tour promises to be a fantastic competition and a tremendous opportunity in terms of the next stage of development for the Red Roses.

“Given the calibre of teams involved this will be the most competitive summer series we’ve been a part of to date. We will be looking to take our strongest squad to the USA for this series.”

The Super Series will follow an historic first match against the Barbarians at Twickenham on 2 June.

Harlequins and England prop Vickii Cornborough recognises that there is plenty of competition for places in the touring squad, saying: “Every single England player is putting their hands up for selection for the Barbarians game because it’s right before the tour.”

On the charge: Vickii Cornborough attacks against France in the Six Nations (Getty Images)

Many have bemoaned that the Women’s Six Nations wasn’t competitive this year given England’s dominance. Cornborough disputes the suggestion, but does say the other unions involved must now improve their performances ahead of the 2020 championship.

“I’ve been lucky enough in my England career to win two Grand Slams, but in my first season we didn’t finish in the top two,” she says.

“There’s actually a lot of competition across all the nations. We came into this Six Nations in great form and it’s a testament to how well we prepared that we managed to translate that onto the pitch.

“If you look at the last round of the Six Nations, there were some shock scores. Italy were written off at the beginning but have done phenomenally well and beat France in their final game. Ireland came in fairly strongly but were beaten in their last game (by Wales).

“The Six Nations is extremely relevant. The challenge for the other five nations is to go away and look at how their squads are performing. The onus is on them to up their game and make sure performances are better next season.”

Rematch: England beat Canada 27-19 in November (Getty Images)

The next challenge for England is to see whether their can replicate their Six Nations form in the Super Series.

Match timings and ticket information for the competition are still to be confirmed, but visit usarugby.org/tickets to sign up for the pre-sale email list.

Women’s Super Series 2019 Fixtures

Friday 28 June Canada v New Zealand, England v USA

Tuesday 2 July France v Canada, New Zealand v USA

Saturday 6 July France v New Zealand, Canada v England

Wednesday 10 July England v France, Canada v USA

Sunday 14 July France v USA, New Zealand v England

In terms of the scoring system, it will be four points for a win, two for a draw and zero for a loss, with bonus points for scoring four or more tries and losing by seven points or less.

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