The anticipation continues to rise ahead of this Saturday’s seismic clash in South West London, as the world’s number one ranked women’s side England, take on the back-to-back Women’s Rugby World Cup winners New Zealand at the Allianz Stadium. This battle of the Test match titans is set to bring a capacity crowd to Twickenham, with England hooker Lark Atkin-Davies eager to get a lift out of the sea of Red Roses fans.
It is well known the importance that the New Zealand teams place upon their pre-match Haka, as the All Blacks and Black Ferns both performance the cultural dance ahead of fixtures. The Black Ferns will lay down the challenge to the Red Roses ahead of kick off, but Atkin-Davies hopes that her adrenaline will be pumping at a sky high rate before then. The front row is excited to get an emotional lift of her own before the match commences, following a rendition of ‘God save the King’ with the England fans in attendance.
“It will be interesting to see what happens. We can’t wait to go and play at the Allianz, hopefully we get a really amazing crowd there. So for us, and especially for myself, personally, I love walking out and belting out the anthem that’s a huge thing when you’re surrounded by so many fans singing the anthem too. That moment is really special.
“That will give us loads of energy. We respect the fact that the Black Ferns funds do the Haka at the beginning of the game, but we just want to show that we’re together and we’re ready to perform. So whatever happens, hopefully the Allianz will bring the noise at the weekend and it will be a special occasion.”
England and the Black Ferns could well meet in the final of next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup, with this Saturday possibly providing a preview of what’s to come at the Allianz Stadium. Atkin-Davies relishes in every opportunity to play at the stadium nicknamed ‘HQ’, with this weekend’s fixture giving the Red Roses a taster of what could be coming down the road in 12 months time. With the goal of selling out the 82,000 capacity amphitheater for the 2025 World Cup Final, Atkin-Davies believes games like this Saturday can only help in building the Red Roses’ fanbase.
“Having our home fans and playing at the home of rugby is massive for us. Those are the opportunities that we want. We want to be able to inspire people that are coming to watch us, but also that it’s on BBC One as well, for those that can’t make it to the game, all that stuff will keep driving the game forward, and keep driving the amount of supporters that we have.
“So, when we get into the World Cup next year, selling out the Allianz for the final would be absolutely amazing. Having that noise from your home fans is incredible. Also, for a lot of the girls, to look up into the crowd and see you family members those are the sort of moments that really stick with you.”
This match is an opportune test for the Red Roses in every sense of the word, with the Black Ferns providing the final obstacle for John Mitchell’s side before England jet out to Canada for WXV. The Red Roses have their first match of the 2024/25 season under their belt, as they racked up an impressive 38-19 win over France at Gloucester’s Kingsholm Stadium last Saturday. Despite coming away with their 14 consecutive win over Les Bleus, there are some creases that need ironing out throughout this week’s preparations.
Atkin-Davies did not sweep England’s unforced errors under the winner’s rug, as the performance against France was far from the ideal win they had in mind. The line-out completion rate dropped to 85%, and France also capitalised upon a litany of handling errors and England penalty offences at the breakdown. The Bristol Bears star explained the necessary work ons, whilst not giving away too many of the goings on ahead of the Black Ferns fixture.
“We’ve reflected on it (line-outs), we’ve reviewed it, and then, this week is all about making sure that we can right some of those mistakes from the weekend. It’s a massive part of our game. We have really high standards when it comes to our line-out. We’ll want it to be higher than that (85% completion rate). It’s definitely a work on for this week.”
“It’s mainly some of the sort of rights from the weekend. We want to make sure that we don’t give opportunities at the breakdown. That’s a big work on for us this week. But just focusing on us and making sure that we’ve shown some amazing variety in the way that we play our attacking game is evolving. I think it’s really exciting to see, after playing a game against France at the weekend, how we can then go and take it on to New Zealand at the Allianz.”
Whilst there is always room for improvement in the professional sporting sphere, Atkin-Davies also highlighted two stars of the Red Roses win over France from last weekend. The duo of back row Maddie Feaunati and centre Tatyana Heard each had stand-out performances in the win over Les Bleus, with the Gloucester-Hartpury midfielder bestowed the Player of the Match award.
“It would go amiss to not mention Maddie. She has been training incredibly, she had an opportunity to start at the weekend, she took it and she flew. She had a really good game at the weekend, and across the board, we’ve all been really challenging each other in training. We’ve been really pushing hard. The competition is really high within the squad, and that’s something that you always want.
“The mention goes to Maddie, and then my roommate as well, Tatayana, getting player of the match at the weekend. I think across the board, there were lots of people that sort of stood out, But again, there’s loads of competition within the training week at the moment, which is an exciting place to be in.”
Atkin-Davies made a replacement appearence in the win against France, with John Mitchell preferring to utilise Amy Cokayne as the starting hooker. It was a new experience for Atkin-Davies, as the Bristol front row regularly takes the two shirt for her club, and was been a regular Red Roses starter, as Cokayne was injured for part of the 2024 Women’s Six Nations. With competition back at its highest in the England camp, Atkin-Davies explained how her only option is to rise up to the occasion.
“The competition amongst us is great, that’s what you want in positions. We all really push each other. We support each other as well, we’ll help each other with aspects of our game. It’s a massive thing for us, making sure that we challenge each other, but we also support each other as well. It’s great for the team to be in that position where we’ve got so many quality hookers, and it shows what we’re doing in our Premiership Rugby as well, showing that there’s lots of talented hookers coming through. It’s great to have the competition and the support.”
Whilst the tried and tested sports media response of ‘focussing on ourselves’ is an ever reliable line, Atkin-Davies did not hide the fact that the Red Roses are in fact doing their homework on their Kiwi opponents. New Zealand have recorded some significant wins in recent months, including back-to-back 60-plus hammerings over the Wallaroos of Australia.
“It’s an important part of the week leading up to playing them. We always make sure that we we analyse things, but we also make sure that there’s a lot of focus on us as well. We spend time looking at their game, but we also spend a lot of time making sure that we’re fine tuning ours as well.”
“The battle that set piece for me is always an exciting one, especially at Allianz. It’s one of those where you’re excited for it. It’s going to be physical, it’s going to be a challenge. That’s what we love.”
With such a milestone to overcome this weekend in the form of the Black Ferns, Atkin-Davies was forgiven for only thinking about what’s ahead of her this coming weekend. However, her husband has been taking the initiative for some forward planning, with the Atkin-Davies household set to hit the road throughout the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup. The front row explained how she is not thinking about next year’s home soil tournament just yet, whilst her family get set for a grand tour of England and follow the Red Roses around the country.
“In all honesty, we’re very focused on the job ahead at the moment, which is the game at the weekend. It’s not something that’s massively been sort of discussed in terms of where we’re heading and where we’re going. We’ve got our sight set on set on that World Cup, and we know exactly what we want to do, but we’re very aware that we’ve got to make sure that we’re building on each performance going into that.
“I think the excitement in terms of family and friends, you hear lots about people thinking about where they might travel to. My husband is trying to plan the best road trip in a camper van around the country, to support and see all the games. You have small conversations about it, but you’re also very focused on what’s in the present moment, and that is playing the Black Ferns at the Allianz. So it’s exciting, but also very aware of where we’re at in this moment.”