After a restful week off to recoverfrom the rigours of the Scottish winter the Red Roses return this weekend asSimon Middleton’s charges head to Doncaster to face off against Ireland. Icaught up with Lark Davies, the Loughborough Lightning hookerwith an eye for a try, to find out the mood in the England Women camp!
“I think that’s always a sort of nerveand anticipation, but I think also we’re all very aware that whenever we go outon that pitch together as a whole squad effort so be it that you’re a starteror a finisher we always go out there knowing that you’ve got you’ve got thatjob to do. no matter what like what role you’re playing whether you’re startingthe game or finishing it. When you get that build up to the squad announcementit’s just kind the excitement of hoping to the involved and I think that’sespecially the case going into the game this weekend with it being our firsthome game of the tournament!”
I’m speaking with England hookerLark Davies a couple of hours after she’s been announced in the starting lineup to take on Ireland on Sunday so it’s a perfect time to ask just what it’slike to hear your name called out. The passion and excitement in her voice atthe honour of the shirt is still there, even after some time has passed!
After two games on the road, grindingout a win against France and a battle with the elements in Scotland it’s backhome for the team now. “We’ve had two tough away games, you know, awayin France is always a really hard game and then with the conditions in Scotlandand everything that went on, to come to a home ground, to come up to Doncasteras well with a sold-out crowd… It’s really exciting to be able to go outthere and play in front of our fans and hopefully put on a really good show forthem too!”
It’s not often that a trip to Yorkshire brings with it the expectationof better weather than your last game, but the conditions in Scotland, that resultedin the game being moved out a day and played behind closed doors, were prettyextreme. The memories of that are still pretty fresh for Davies who startedthat game too. “hopefully we won’t have any storms this weekend. I think one ofthe coaches was joking that another storm was on the way, but I think whateverthe conditions you just excited to get out, get out there and play… and hopethat it’s not snowing this time round.”
The forecast doesn’t show any snow, but should the heavens open atleast the team will have some moral support this weekend as Doncaster’s soldout Castle Park stadium always provides a vocal and supportive crowd. I’mfascinated to understand just what it was like though, playing in the vast,empty expanse of Murrayfield.
“It’s a very different experience. We still went out there wantingto put on a good performance and wanting to sort of better ourselves from theweek before. I think it’s about being able to play to conditions and showingthat we can still play in all areas of the park and in those sorts ofconditions and I think we did that. Obviously, it wasn’t under the bestcircumstances but to be fair to Scotland their team enabled us to play the nextday in Murrayfield. That was the big thing… we just wanted to get out there andplay.”
This weekend they face off against an Irish team who have also takena pair of wins from their first two games. It promises to be a tough encounter.“They’ve put in some good performances so far in the Six Nations.” Davies tellsme of the opposition. “We know that they’re gonna be really aggressive in thecontact area, they’re going to want to make big hits. They want to be reallydominant, lots of line speed, I think it’s going to be a really physicalencounter! Those are the sort of games you get excited for as a forward, they’rethe games you want to play. Lots of big impacts. It’s a real fight in terms of setpiece wise and you can’t take their backs out of the equation either, the runningthreat that they pose. We’re really excited to go out there but we’ll focus onour performance, going out there putting on an 80-minute performance againstthem in front of our home crowd.”
There’s a new face in the Red Roses line-up this week with Lark’sLoughborough teammate Detysha Harper named on the bench for what, shouldshe be called upon, will be her senior international debut after representingher country at age grade levels. “I’m really excited for Tysh! She’sbeen working really hard for Loughborough this season and has been playingreally well for us. To have one of your teammates getting their first cap isalways exciting, creit to the support staff and coaches at Lightning and alsoto Tysh herself for putting in so much hard work to get to this point!”
For Tysh, as for so many young players the goal will be to securea full time England contract. It’s been a little over a year since SimonMiddleton named his initial fully contracted players, including Lark, and it’sinteresting to note how things have changed for her. “There’s been massivechanges in terms of training, being able to train day in, day out. Those littlesort of one percenters that you know you have to do..now you can just get in,in the time that you have during your day. For me in terms of throw ins, I cando that daily now without the pressures of having to work alongside that.”
“The time to do analysis and to get rest and recovery that’s soimportant in such a physical game, so there’s been massive changes and – especiallyfor us as a team – it’s the time we spend together. I think that’s vital for oursuccess, having that time together as a squad to be able to train to analyseteams and analyse ourselves and better ourselves too! It’s exciting now cominginto the second year in terms of where we can kick on. I’m really excited andfor me like it’s, it’s been a real change and I love it, I revel in it. I lovebeing a full time professional!”
Whether it’s Lark, her international colleagues such as EmilyScarratt and Katy Daley-Mclean or up and coming talent like Tysh Harper, there’sno shortage of skill and passion in the squad at Loiughborough Lightningand before I let Davies go I make sure to get her thoughts on how she thinksher team are doing in the Tyrrells Premier 15s. “We always take eachgame as it comes but to currently be in the top four is really good. We’ve gotsome really competitive games after the Six Nation. Those of us in camp arefocused on that, but I’m sure back at Loughborough the girls have been traininghard throughout the break. They’ll be focusing on the next game for us whichwill be Wasps. That will be a really competitive fixture and then with Quinsafter that, you know there are some really big games coming up. We’re reallypositive about where we are as a team, and where we’re building towards as wellso it’s an exciting time to be to be there and be a part of that!”
Comments
Post a Comment