| Venue: Welford Road, Leicester Date:Sunday, April 24, 2008 Kick-off: 12:00 BST |
| Coverage:BBC Two, BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra and BBC Sport App. Live text commentary. |
England are closing the gap in Twickenham sales to make way for women’s games, says Amy Cokayne, a hooker.
Record crowd of 14,689 watched England beat WalesThis month, that mark could be crossed in Gloucester at Sunday’s Women’s Six Nations match against Ireland at Welford Road.
England is set to host the 2025 World CupThe Rugby Football Union hopes to have 82,000 Twickenham fans by then.
Cokayne stated, “That’s certainly the dream.”
There are approximately 23,000 tickets available for Sunday’s Leicester match. More than 13,000 have been sold.
Cokayne is aware that the leap to filling Twickenham will be a big one, but she is beginning to believe when she is able to experience “the largest Six Nations” event she has ever been a part of.
The 25-year old said that Twickenham was sold out when they were questioned about bidding for the World Cup.
“For many girls, it was like ‘good fortune doing that’. We’re closing that gap by creating the Six Nations crowds, you can see.
‘Disappointing’ facing depleted Ireland
Cokayne could be making her England return Sunday, after she tore her calf while playing for Harlequins last February.
Lark Davies and Connie Powell played in her absence, which contributed to England’s dominance of the tournament thus far.
Red Roses are looking for a fourth title. They have already won three bonus points wins, scoring a total of 193 points and conceding only 10.
They are facing an Ireland side that has won two of their three games. who will be without a large part of their squadSeven players balance the XV-aside game with sevens duties, and two are injured.
Cokayne acknowledged that facing such a low side can be “quite disappointing”, and said: “You want your best.”
“You don’t want your team to be severely depleted. It doesn’t matter why they are unable to control their scheduling.
“With England we’re very lucky in that our sevens/XVs programmes now are quite distinct so we don’t need those issues.”
