England have suffered a double injury with Morwenna Talling and Natasha Hunt left out of the rest of the Women’s Six Nations squad.
The pair suffered foot injuries in the second half of the Red Roses’ 33-12 tournament opener over Ireland in front of a record crowd of 77,120 at Allianz Stadium on Saturday.
Lock Talling started the game but was forced off with an injury in the 43rd minute, and his replacement, scrumhalf Hunt, came off the bench after just 13 minutes before being replaced with an injury himself.
Talling becomes the slowest second-row player to be excluded from the tournament. Zoe Stratford, Abbey Ward and Rosie Galligan withdrew due to pregnancy.
Speaking after the game against Ireland, England head coach John Mitchell said: “We’ve lost four international locks so we’ll probably be a back-row team by the end of the competition. There are different ways to play this game, but if we have to rely on back-row players we’ll do well.”
Sale’s Talling and Gloucester Hartpury’s Hunt will be in England camp this week and will undergo specialist examinations before commencing rehabilitation with their respective clubs.
The RFU instead announced that Sydney Gregson and the uncapped Heidi Head have joined the squad for the Red Roses’ next game against Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.
England 2026 Women’s Six Nations fixtures
England beat Ireland 33-12 at Allianz Stadium v Scotland (Saturday 18th April) – Murrayfield, Edinburgh (1.30pm) v Wales (Saturday 25th April) – Ashton Gate, Bristol (2.15pm) v Italy (Saturday 9th May) – Parma, Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi (3pm) v France (Sunday 17th May) – Bordeaux, Stade Atlantique (5:45pm)
