STUART BARROW saw some positive glimpses of England’s future in their 62-0 victory at Wales.
The England coach rang the changes in their first game since being thrashed by Australia in Las Vegas in March, handing debuts to Grace Banks, Jenna Foubister, Eva Hunter, Molly Jones, Lucy Murray and Ruby Bruce.
“Obviously we’ve got to recover from Vegas now. We’ve got to look forward to the future,” said Barrow.
“And it was nice because we brought players who were in form in the Women’s Super League and there’s a lot of new faces.
“We had six debutants today, which was really important for us, and they took a little bit of time to settle in.
“They were excited, they were a little bit nervous and but we got together at half-time and had a little chat and they came out in the second half and I thought they responded really well.
“I’m a big endorser of the England v Wales fixture. It can only make Wales better and it gives us the perfect opportunity to have a look at players as well.
“I thought Wales were far better than they were against us last year. I could see improvements in them. They really troubled us at times today, last-gasp defence by England stopped them from scoring and I think I think they warranted a try today as well.”
England don’t have any further internationals planned for this year but another Origin fixture will be played on Sunday, October 19.
“We will get together the end of October when the season finishes and we’re going to have a three-day Origin camp,” said Barrow.
“Yorkshire will be in one hotel, Lancashire in the other with a game at Oldham on the back end of that. That’ll be an intense game.
“And then starting next year, which is World Cup year, we’ll be having a camp in January, February and March for 30 identified players to come together and get a training block.”