Mike Henson<\/strong>
BBC Sport rugby union news reporter<\/p>\n ![\"Holly](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/19a9eed0-2651-4fdb-a1f7-a87481a73e8b.jpg.webp.webp\")
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, <\/p>\n
Holly Aitchison of Sale Sharks<\/p>\n
Arriving at Sale Sharks as part of a high-profile revamp, Holly Aitchison has made one big move this summer.<\/b><\/p>\n
She is adamant she won’t be making a second.<\/p>\n
“[England head coach] John Mitchell has made it pretty clear to me that I can cover different positions, but I am a 10,” she told BBC Sport.<\/p>\n
“And I won’t be seen as anything else.”<\/p>\n
A year ago, the question wouldn’t have been asked.<\/p>\n
At WXV in Canada, Aitchison was the Red Roses’ starting fly-half, steering them to title-clinching victories over New Zealand and Canada.<\/p>\n
Her playmaking and running abilities were a key part of diversifying England’s threat, ensuring that, come the Rugby World Cup in England, they would have more cutting edges than a bandsaw.<\/p>\n
It didn’t turn out like that.<\/p>\n
Zoe Harrison edged in front as first-choice 10, with Aitchison shifted into the centres or on to the bench.<\/p>\n
An ankle injury in the run-up to the Rugby World Cup meant Aitchison struggled to challenge for her spot, only appearing in the knock-out stages and then being deployed as a midfield replacement in the semi-final and final victories over France and Canada respectively.<\/p>\n
To continue reading, click here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I want to inspire like Finn Russell – Aitchisonpublished at 14:00 GMT 7 November 14:00 GMT 7 November…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-557761","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115515482160142014","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557761","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=557761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/94d6b2fd-dd15-4fd2-8247-4bc5d61b02d7.jpg.webp.webp\")
Mike Henson<\/strong>