England rugby: Shaun Edwards' Red Roses move inspired by mother - Marlie Packer

England back row Marlie Packer says defence coach Shaun Edwards' surprise move into the Red Roses set-up was partly inspired by his late mother Phyllis.

Edwards has joined the world champions for the remainder of their autumn campaign after the end of a six-and-a half-year stint with France.

"He told us a little story, telling us why he wanted to be here," said Packer.

"He was saying about his mum not ever being able to have the opportunity to play, and that she would have loved to have done so.

"It was really cool to hear that she thought we were amazing."

Phyllis Edwards worked as a hairdresser in the family's hometown of Wigan, but was a trusted advisor throughout her son's career. She also cared for Edwards' father Jackie after his own career with league side Warrington was ended by a spinal injury at the age of 24.

"Back in the mid-1990s she was the first person to tell me to study rugby union as well as rugby league, because I always wanted to be a coach and I always took notes of what coaches said," said Edwards at the time.

"When rugby union went professional in 1995, I was at the top of the league game, captain of Wigan who were world champions, but she always told me to learn about rugby union."

Edwards' study paid off. After lifting domestic and European titles during his time coaching club side Wasps, he has won a total of seven Six Nations crowns across stints with Wales and France.

"He's got more Six Nations than quite a few of the girls, to be fair to him!" added Packer, who has been part of 10 Grand Slam-winning sides herself since making her England debut in 2008.

"To have that calibre of coach to want to come and work with the Red Roses, just showcases where the women's game is going and what this Red Roses team has done and are doing.

"He's straight talking. He doesn't say too much, but when he does say something, you hear it."

England's winning run was halted on 39 successive Tests last weekend, when Canada held them to a 26-26 draw at Sandy Park.

England take on New Zealand, the Red Roses' closest challengers at the top of the world rankings, at Allianz Stadium on Saturday, before crossing the Atlantic next month for matches against Canada in Ottawa and Toronto, and a Test against the United States.

"We're not happy with the draw, but we didn't lose a match," said Packer.

"It was a really great game of rugby. If you're a neutral that's the kind of rugby that you want to come and watch - you don't know who's going to win, end-to-end scoring, and such a physical, physical game.

"We know we have to build from last week. We're in a Test series against Canada; that's our first game, now we've got two away legs. We know what we have got to put right."

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The WXV Global Series - the new event designed to increase the number and competitiveness of Test matches in the autumn for the world's best women - has delivered several superb games.

In addition to England's draw against Canada, last weekend featured France recovering from 19 points down to beat Australia 29-26 and the United States overhauling a 17-point deficit to see off Ireland 40-36 in Dublin.

Australia also came hard at England on the opening weekend of matches, leading 10-5 at half-time in Salford before succumbing to a 48-15 defeat.

"The Red Roses are always pushing that bar higher, then it's for the other teams to raise their game, that's exactly what's happening and that's what we want as players," Packer added.

"The more the game goes professional, the more the unions put money into their women's sides, we're going to see better contests of rugby.

"We're going to see that the Red Roses have it won in the first half. There will have to be 80-minute performances.

"We don't want to turn up and have to have targets within games because we know we're going to win. We want to be in a rugby contest."

The Black Ferns were the last team to beat England, upsetting them in the Women's Rugby World Cup final at Eden Park in November 2022.

They come into Saturday's contest under the leadership of Whitney Hansen, who has won all seven Tests since taking over as head coach in December, including a 36-14 victory over Canada in April in Kansas.

The match against England takes place a day before the one-year anniversary of the Red Roses' Rugby World Cup final triumph in front of a capacity 81,855 Twickenham crowd.

Packer says the focus for the team is forward however.

"That's history now to us," she said. "It's a massive thing - we can celebrate that World Cup, but actually this squad is very different from that World Cup squad.

"We've become Grand Slam champions since then and we're building to perform really well at WXV.

"Come Sunday on the year anniversary though, I expect the WhatsApp group might pop off with a couple of random photos or something!"

A Rugby Football Union report says hosting the World Cup has been the catalyst for a jump in playing numbers in the girls' and women's game.

The number of girls aged six to 12 playing rugby in clubs grew from 18,000 to 26,800 over the course of four years of investment from government totalling £14.6m.

There was also a 38% increase in women playing rugby at targeted universities, while 28% of those qualifying as coaches and match officials were women. That figure had been 9% before the programme's start.

"Today, more women and girls are playing, coaching and officiating rugby than ever before," said Alex Teasdale, the RFU's executive director of the women's game.

"Across England, we have seen communities come together to break down barriers, challenge perceptions and open the door to a new generation of participants."