Packer ready to add to Red Roses’ World Cup history with Grand Slam

Marlie Packer remembers when “a hundred fans and a couple of dogs” came to watch England play rugby.

Now, the longest-serving member of the Red Roses has experienced playing in front of 81,000 people.

Last autumn, Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium sold out for the World Cup final, and Packer walked off the team bus into something she had never encountered in all her years of pulling on an England shirt.

“The hairs on the back of your neck just stood up,” she said. “Because it was the most sensational thing I’ve ever seen in rugby.”

The tournament had travelled the country – Sunderland, Northampton, Brighton – picking up supporters at every stop before delivering them, in record numbers, to the home of English rugby.

“We didn’t just play in one spot and have fans travel to us,” Packer reflected. “We managed to go all over the country, and fans came to the games, and then actually, that’s when they were like, ‘This is amazing, we want to get a ticket for that final.'”

Another record crowd awaits as England open their Women’s Six Nations campaign as reigning world champions, and the Red Roses head into it chasing yet more history.

No team has followed a World Cup title with a Six Nations Grand Slam. This group intends to be the first.

How Red Roses’ culture changed within, sparked culture change in society

Record crowds don’t materialise from nowhere. Behind the sell-outs and the rising viewership figures is a group that was deliberately and carefully rebuilt – not tactically, but culturally – by head coach John Mitchell when he arrived four years ago.

England were already winning at that point, two World Cup cycles deep with two finals reached and two defeats at the last hurdle. Mitchell identified the gap quickly, and it wasn’t in the playing squad.

“It wasn’t just the on-pitch stuff,” Packer explained. “It was the off-pitch stuff that he needed to change, and he came in and smashed our culture straight away. He wanted to elevate us, he wanted us to be ourselves – when we’re on, we’re on, but when we’re off, we’re off, and enjoy each other’s company.”

Megan Jones, who captains the side into this Six Nations following the announcement that World Cup-winning skipper Zoe Stratford is expecting her first child, believes the group actively resists the comfort of their own success.

“You hear the phrase – if it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” she explained. “We’re probably looking from a different angle. We want to break it to see if we can withstand it, and kind of mould it into our own, so we’re not afraid to break things to try and keep raising the game and raising the bar.”

It is an unusual thing for a world champion to say, and all the more convincing for it.

Christiana Balogun, Millie David, Haineala Lutui, Annabel Meta, Sarah Parry, Demelza Short and Jodie Verghese make up the players uncapped at senior international level.

Flanker Sadia Kabeya believes Mitchell has fostered an ideal environment for the youngsters to come into.

“It gives you a space where you can be comfortable, but also push yourself outside those comfort zones,” she said. “It just allows you to be yourself, and you know you don’t have to be someone else.”

There is a feeling that something shifted after the World Cup – and not just attendance figures.

Packer noticed it first at club appearances, when boys started showing up wanting autographs, as well as girls, asking how they could play like her, telling her they loved watching the Red Roses.

“I want to be there for any girl, boy, at any age,” she said. “Whether you’re a man or a woman, if you want to go down to your local club, go pick up a ball and have fun, because actually what rugby has given me isn’t just about what’s on the pitch, it’s about the friendships I’ve made.”

Kabeya is equally clear about what this moment means beyond the sport itself.

“It’s not just about inspiring women, inspiring young girls,” she said. “Inspiring young boys and men, and allowing them to come into our world – because for the longest time it’s just been women understanding women’s rugby, and now we’re growing that picture and growing that fanbase.”

‘We can’t just rely on the fact we’re world champions’

Despite the consummate professionalism, which no doubt has helped drive the success for the Red Roses, the team is still brimming with personality.

Jones looks at it from a captain’s viewpoint and – in terms of what she hopes people see when they look at this squad.

“I always thought being professional, you had to be this straight-laced person and take yourself very seriously – when actually it’s quite the complete opposite,” said the skipper. “That’s what a lot of us want to showcase – that we’re all different individuals, and actually we’ve just all come together and encompass the same goal, which is to win.”

The Six Nations opener on Saturday brings another record crowd and another chance to set records.

“I’m super excited to get back on the pitch, get back to being with the girls, and obviously another record-breaking crowd,” said Kabeya. “Especially building off the momentum we’ve had in terms of the growth of women’s rugby, hopefully we can just see bigger, better crowds, great atmospheres.”

Packer, a veteran of 112 caps, has more context than most, and is clear about what is needed heading into the Six Nations.

“We can’t just rely on the fact that we’re world champions and we got everything right in the World Cup,” she said. “Because, actually, that’s when that would be your Achilles heel.

“We need to make sure we keep evolving and putting our best foot forward.”

England’s 2026 Women’s Six Nations fixtures

• vs Ireland (Saturday April 11) – Allianz Stadium, Twickenham (2.45pm)
• vs Scotland (Saturday April 18) – Murrayfield, Edinburgh (1.30pm)
• vs Wales (Saturday April 25) – Ashton Gate, Bristol (2.15pm)
• vs Italy (Saturday May 9) – Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Parma (3pm)
• vs France (Sunday May 17) – Stade Atlantique, Bordeaux (5.45pm)

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