Red Roses flourish in the North West as Lancashire celebrates women’s rugby
The North West's very own Holly Aitchison celebrated her 50th cap on Saturday
©Lizzy Terry/TEZ.PHOTOG
There was something wonderfully appropriate about the Red Roses playing in the North West on Saturday.
A crowd of 9,251 gathered at the CorpAcq Stadium in Salford to watch England begin their WXV Global Series campaign with a 48-15 victory over Australia.
It was an occasion which celebrated far more than another England win.
This was a chance for Lancashire and the wider North West rugby community to see the world champions at close quarters.
The stands were filled with families and thousands of young people who were able to watch some of the most recognisable figures in women’s sport.
Lancashire Rugby described it as “an inspiring experience for all the young people who were there”.
That may ultimately be the most important result of the afternoon.
Ahead of the match, TRU’s Elizabeth Cartwright set the scene for England’s return as world champions, examining the reshaped WXV Global Series, the controversial smaller ball and the players to watch against Australia.
You can read Elizabeth’s full preview, “England vs Australia: Red Roses begin WXV Global Series as world champions”?, here.
What unfolded in Salford added another dimension to that story. This was not only England’s opening victory in the new competition, but a celebration of Lancashire’s place in the past, present and future of women’s rugby.
A homecoming for Holly Aitchison
For Holly Aitchison, the occasion carried particular significance.
The Southport-born fly-half won her 50th England cap less than 40 miles from Firwood Waterloo, the club at which her rugby journey began.
She led the team onto the field before being congratulated by her teammates as they lined up for the national anthems.
It was one of those moments when the pathway from local rugby to the international stage became visible.
Aitchison grew up in the North West, attended school in Formby and developed at a club with an outstanding history in the women’s game. Her career has subsequently taken her into Premiership Women’s Rugby, international fifteens and Olympic sevens.
Now a Sale Sharks player, she reached one of rugby’s great personal landmarks on northern soil on the eve of her 29th birthday.
For the young players watching from the stands, Aitchison was not an abstract international sporting star. She was someone who had emerged from their region and had once started from the same place they now occupy.
Her 50th appearance provided a living connection between Lancashire’s rugby past, its present and what its next generation might become.
Lancashire’s place in the Red Roses story
The county’s contribution to women’s rugby extends well beyond one player or one afternoon.
Long before today’s Red Roses became World Cup winners playing in front of record crowds, pioneers such as Gill Burns were helping to establish the women’s game.
Burns, one of England’s great forwards and a World Cup winner in 1994, became synonymous with Firwood Waterloo and with the growth of women’s rugby across Lancashire.
That history matters.
The present success of the Red Roses did not appear overnight. It can be argued that it rests upon decades of work by players, coaches, administrators, parents and volunteers who maintained teams and competitions when women’s rugby received little national attention.
Lancashire clubs have been part of that development.
Today, the county’s girls’ pathway is intended to help players aged between 11 and 18 continue their journey towards adult rugby. The challenge is not simply to introduce girls to the sport, but to retain them, develop them and provide visible opportunities to progress.
An England international staged in Salford gives that work a powerful focal point.
A girl can train at her local club during the week, attend an England match at the weekend and see a player from Southport earn her 50th cap. The pathway suddenly feels real.
England made to find another way
Australia ensured that this was not simply a ceremonial homecoming.
The Wallaroos were excellent during the first half. Their defence was physical and organised, while their attack was clinical enough to punish England’s errors.
Playing with the smaller size 4.5 ball being trialled during the WXV Global Series, England struggled for accuracy in the Salford wind. Handling mistakes interrupted their attack and prevented them from developing their customary rhythm.
Abi Burton scored England’s only try of the opening 40 minutes, but Australia took a deserved 10-5 advantage into the interval.
It was the first time England had trailed at half-time during John Mitchell’s tenure and their first interval deficit for almost six years.
That made what followed considerably more revealing than another comfortable victory from start to finish.
England responded like world champions.
They improved their accuracy, strengthened their scrum and began to produce the pace and power Australia could no longer contain. The Red Roses scored 43 unanswered points after the interval, extending their remarkable winning sequence to 39 Tests.
May Campbell began the second-half surge before captain Meg Jones produced an excellent individual finish.
Debutant Bryony Field crossed, as did Mia Venner, Sadia Kabeya and Lucy Packer, whose athletic finish was among the afternoon’s highlights. Claudia Moloney-MacDonald completed the scoring.
The eventual margin was emphatic, but Australia’s first-half performance gave England a necessary examination. The Wallaroos demonstrated why their preparations for a home World Cup in 2029 should be watched with interest.
England, meanwhile, showed that their dominance is based upon more than an ability to overwhelm teams from the opening whistle.
They can recognise a falling standard, adjust and respond.
Northern representation
Aitchison was one of three Sale Sharks players included in England’s matchday squad.
Tatyana Heard started in the centre, while Morwenna Talling was among the replacements. For Sale Sharks Women, their presence reinforced the club’s developing role as the northern home of elite women’s rugby.
That role is important for the entire region.
The geography of Premiership Women’s Rugby has not always made the pathway easy for talented northern players. If the women’s game is to become genuinely national, opportunity cannot be concentrated in one part of the country.
Strong northern representation within the elite domestic competition gives players somewhere to aspire to without automatically believing they must relocate south at the earliest opportunity.
It also means that an international in Salford does not have to be an isolated celebration.
Those who were inspired by the Red Roses can return and watch elite women’s club rugby, whether that be at the CorpAcq or at Sale's regular home of the Morson Stadium just down the road.
They can follow Aitchison, Heard and their Sale teammates through the domestic season and begin building a regular connection with the game.
The international match provides inspiration. A thriving local and regional structure turns that inspiration into lasting participation and support.
The crowd that matters
An attendance of 9,251 may not match the extraordinary 81,885 who watched England defeat Canada in the 2025 World Cup final at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.
It should not be judged against it.
The value of taking the Red Roses around the country is that different communities are given ownership of the national team.
Salford was the only North West venue in the opening home programme of the new WXV Global Series. England now move to Exeter to face Canada before meeting New Zealand at Allianz Stadium.
Bringing the world champions to the North West made them accessible to families who might not travel to Twickenham. Affordable junior tickets also allowed clubs, schools and parents to turn the fixture into a shared day out.
The photographs of the crowd tell their own story.
Among the adults were large numbers of children watching women occupy the centre of a major sporting occasion. They were watching England’s world champions represent their country in a Test match.
For boys as well as girls, that visibility helps make women’s rugby a normal and valued part of the sporting landscape.
The size of the crowd mattered. Its composition may have mattered even more.
Inspiration must lead somewhere.
The familiar word attached to women’s sport is “inspiration”.
The Salford occasion unquestionably provided it, but inspiration only becomes a legacy when there is somewhere for it to go.
The next step is to connect those thousands of young spectators with their local clubs, schools and county pathways. It means making girls’ teams easy to find, ensuring they have sufficient fixtures and supporting the volunteers who keep them operating.
It also means continuing to bring elite women’s rugby to the region.
One successful international should become the foundation for the next event rather than a pleasant exception. Sale Sharks Women need visible support, Lancashire’s community clubs need players and volunteers, and young people need regular opportunities to watch the sport.
England’s victory showed the summit. Lancashire rugby must continue strengthening the steps which lead towards it.
A day for the Red Rose
This was ultimately a celebration of two Red Roses.
There was the rose on the England shirt, representing a team which has become the benchmark for the women’s international game.
There was also the red rose of Lancashire, representing a county with its own proud rugby history and an important part to play in the sport’s future.
Holly Aitchison brought the two together.
From Southport and Firwood Waterloo to a 50th England appearance in Salford, her journey demonstrated what can be achieved when talent encounters opportunity, good coaching and a functioning pathway.
England’s 48-15 victory will enter the record books as their 39th consecutive Test win.
For many of the children inside the stadium, however, the lasting memory may be something simpler: seeing the Red Roses in the North West and beginning to imagine themselves wearing that shirt one day.
.jpg "England head coach John Mitchell")
.jpg "John Mitchell names a 36-player Red Roses squad led by Megan Jones for WXV Global Series Tests against Australia, Canada and New Zealand.")
.jpg "John Mitchell says the new size 4.5 women’s rugby ball could increase contestable kicking")
.jpg "John Mitchell names a 40-player Red Roses squad as England begin preparations for the WXV Global Series.")
