![\"England](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2.81427519.jpg\")
Former captain Marlie Packer misses out against Australia (Joe Giddens\/PA)<\/p>\nEngland back-rower Alex Matthews gave head coach John Mitchell a playful punch after being appointed captain for Saturday\u2019s World Cup showdown with Australia.<\/p>\n
The 32-year-old will lead her country for only the second time as the Red Roses attempt to clinch top spot in Pool A by avoiding defeat to the Wallaroos in Brighton.<\/p>\n
With regular skipper Zoe Aldcroft sidelined until the knockout stages due to a knee issue and former captain Marlie Packer left out of the matchday 23, media-shy Matthews was selected for the role ahead of vice-captain Megan Jones.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
She previously took on the responsibility against the United States at the 2024 WXV tournament in Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I actually punched him, a little nudge on the shoulder; I was like, \u2018what are you doing to me?\u2019,\u201d Matthews told reporters after being asked for her reaction to being given the news by Mitchell.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just said \u2018nothing changes\u2019. I have been through this against the USA over in Canada, so I\u2019ve rehearsed it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was taken aback, it is pretty cool, isn\u2019t it? Pretty special, especially in a World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the leadership group we have got here is phenomenal. I just said to Abbie (Ward), \u2018captain is not a bit of me\u2019. And she said, \u2018it is definitely a bit of you and you know you have got enough of us around you\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthews, who is playing at her fourth World Cup and lifted the trophy in 2014, is England\u2019s third skipper in as many games and tends to lead by example, rather than being a natural orator.<\/p>\n
Former captain Marlie Packer misses out against Australia (Joe Giddens\/PA)<\/p>\n
Packer captained the hosts for last weekend\u2019s 92-3 win over Samoa in Northampton after fellow flanker Aldcroft led the team for the 69-7 opening victory over the United States in Sunderland.<\/p>\n
Mitchell outlined a preference for having his captain in the back row and close to the referee as he explained his decision for picking number eight Matthews ahead of centre Jones.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeg is a brilliant vice-captain (but) there is no rights to captaincy just because you are vice-captain, simple as that,\u201d said the New Zealander, a number eight during his playing days.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have got one of the best number eights in the world arguably and she has demonstrated excellence for a long period of time and I love leaders that other players can follow through their actions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just happen to have a superhuman that\u2019s highly respected and a world-class player that demonstrates her performances through her actions.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"England](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2.81465438.jpg\")
England head coach John Mitchell has rung the changes (Adam Davy\/PA)<\/p>\n
Mitchell has once again rung the changes, with only wing Jess Breach, who will win her 50th cap, Jones and lock Rosie Galligan retained in the starting XV.<\/p>\n
With knockout rugby on the horizon, the 61-year-old acknowledged England are moving beyond the point of regular rotation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will still be tactically, technically thinking where we can get advantages but everything is basically an end point from this point onwards,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not about making wholesale changes; it is about cohesion and it is about belief that is being built.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s two-and-a-half, three years of experience in this group so you have got to put your stamp on it at some point.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve really only just got started, so that\u2019s the exciting bit. We\u2019re on a mission to hunt our next opponent and earn the right to the next stages and that\u2019s where our focus is.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England back-rower Alex Matthews gave head coach John Mitchell a playful punch after being appointed captain for Saturday\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5008],"tags":[748,393,4884,16,16849,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-397072","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-england","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-uk-sports","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115145712930181885","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}