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Injured England pair to miss RWC final

By AAP Newswire

Nov 10, 2022

England's Helena Rowland will miss the Rugby World Cup final. — England's Helena Rowland will miss the Rugby World Cup final with a knee injury. -AAP Image

England will be without injured pair Helena Rowland and Hannah Botterman for their women's Rugby World Cup final against New Zealand at Eden Park in Auckland.

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Prop Botterman sustained a knee injury in training last week, while fullback Rowland picked up a foot problem in Saturday's 26-19 semi-final win over Canada that extended England's record winning run to 30 matches.

Winger Abbie Dow capped her own comeback from a broken leg by scoring two tries in that victory and will line up in the back three with the returning Ellie Kildunne and Lydia Thompson.

Holly Aitchison also returns to the team while Claudia MacDonald and Tatyana Heard drop to the bench.

New Zealand saw off France in the semi-finals to set up the clash between the defending champions and tournament favourites England.

New Zealand were the last team to beat England, in 2019 in San Diego, but the Red Roses have since handed the Black Ferns back-to-back defeats.

"There can be no bigger challenge in sport than to play the world champions in their own backyard in front of a sell-out crowd - 99.9 per cent of which will be forming part of the opposition," England coach Simon Middleton said.

"Great teams don't fear those challenges, they embrace them, and meet them head on, that's what we intend to do."