Meg & Mitch Preview Roses v Canada

After a hard-fought win against Australia on Saturday, the Red Roses are set to face Canada in front of a sold-out Sandy Park.

John Mitchell has named his squad for a repeat of the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup Final, with the matchday 23 sharing 974 England caps.

“We’re building a squad for a test series, with our focus being getting better and solving issues from the last performance,” Mitch says.

Last time out, England defeated Canada 33-13 to lift the world cup trophy at Allianz Stadium.

Six changes are made from that starting lineup; with Moloney-MacDonald, Rowland, Packer, Field, Ives Campion and Burton taking their respective positions.

“The World Cup final was a year ago, we’re onto something new now. We’re excited by the uniqueness of this test series.

“It’s not often you get a chance to play against a country three times in the women’s game.”

Canada are no strangers to English rugby, with numerous players embedded within Premiership Women’s Rugby.

“Canadian players are really developed within our country. They wouldn’t be where they are without a smart strategy, and part of that strategy is playing in the PWR.”

Meg Jones played every game in the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup, before later stepping into the captaincy role with Zoe Stratford on maternity leave.

“This is the first test series in my career, so it’s an amazing opportunity for experience. We’re facing the very best, so the aim is to use that and get better every week.”

The WXV Global Series is the outside centre’s second competition captaining her country, after leading England to their Six Nations Grand Slam earlier this year.

Reflecting on the performance against Australia, Jones is positive and forward-thinking.

“We stuck with our process. We obviously ended up trailing in the first half, but it wasn’t something we were particularly worried about,” she says. “Australia came out really physical and we hadn’t rattled them enough.

“The half-time talk was a discussion of what was working and what we could get better at. We knew we needed to win the physical battle and the collision, which we definitely did in the second half."

When playing club rugby, Jones is surrounded by international talent at Trailfinders Women. On the player she’s most excited to come up against on Saturday, Jones says:

“Claire Bear… that’s what we call Claire Gallagher. She’s a great player and I’m looking forward to matching up against her. It’ll be a good contest.”

Red Roves v Canada at Sandy Park is officially sold out, but will be broadcast live for fans to watch on BBC iPlayer under 'Women's Rugby Union: WXV Global Series'.