Danielle Waterman the mainstay as England ring World Cup changes

As England chop and change their side during the defence of their Women’s World Cup crown, one thing remains the same – the presence of Danielle Waterman in the No15 jersey. Team-mates have flitted in and out but England’s hot-stepping full-back is the only ever present in the starting XV for the pool stages, making a third appearance against USA on Thursday.

It is testament to the regard in which she is held by the head coach, Simon Middleton, not to mention the form she is in – a highlights reel of some sidestepping runs in the victory over Italy, in which she scored two tries, even led to endorsements on social media to appear on Strictly Come Dancing. And it also means a gruelling schedule, with three matches in nine days before the tournament heads from Dublin to Belfast for the knockout stages.

For Waterman, 32, it is no small feat in her fourth World Cup. She has previously admitted being uncertain of whether to return to XVs after Great Britain’s Olympic sevens campaign in Rio last year, having fought back from a long-term knee injury to make it to Brazil, but with a potential semi-final to come on Tuesday as well as the final the following Saturday, Waterman believes she can stay the course.

“It is really physically hard and it’s mentally hard as well but we’ve put in a huge amount of work with a strength and conditioning team and our medical team,” she says. “We get all the recovery strategies in place. Everything we’ve been doing in our training programme helps to mirror what a competition phases is like. Personally it’s all about that robustness and the ability to recover.”

Of her form in the 56-13 win over Italy, having been well shackled by Spain in England’s opening 56-5 victory, she is more modest. “I was pleased to get some ball in hand, to have a bit more in the Italy game was great,” says Waterman.

“The forwards did a fantastic job in and around the breakdown and if you’ve got that much front-foot ball it’s a dream for an outside back.”

While England’s equation on the last of the three pool-stage matchdays is straightforward – beat USA and the world No1s are into the semi-finals – it is less clear elsewhere. Kicking off before England is New Zealand versus Canada, the winner of which will also advance to the last four. But Canada’s failure to secure a try-bonus point against Wales last time out means USA, with 10 points, currently occupy the last semi-final place. Try and losing bonus points will also play a significant role and the make-up of the last four will not be decided until after Ireland face France in the last match of the day, giving tournament organisers the kind of drama they would have hoped for. And Waterman believes that while USA may have started the tournament as dark horses, they are worthy adversaries.

“I don’t think you can ever underestimate an international American team, we know it’s going to be a physical encounter against them,” she says. “They’ve got some fantastic sevens players that they’ve brought across and they’ve been in and around the semi-finals in each of the World Cups I’ve played in. They may not be the front runners in terms of the nations that people see at the top of the women’s game but they’ve got two really good results and we’re not taking anything for granted. It’s important for us that we match their physicality but also play an intelligent game ourselves so we’re not meeting fire with fire.”

Middleton has made six personnel changes to face the USA and while he has previously hinted he is keeping something back for the latter stages of the competition, the XV selected on Thursday looks his strongest so far.

Sarah Hunter returns to captain the side as Alex Matthews moves to blindside flanker with Kay Wilson, scorer of four tries against Spain, returning on the wing. Katy Mclean is back at fly-half with Amber Reed moving to inside-centre. Abbie Scott comes back into the second row while Vickii Cornborough and Sarah Bern are restored as props. Vicky Fleetwood is set for her first action of the tournament from the bench.

“Regardless of whether players have been selected to start or will come on as finishers, everyone has equal weight in the team, fully understands what their role is and what they need to deliver come match day,” said Middleton.

Wales complete their pool-stage campaign against Hong Kong and give a first start to the 17-year-old back-row Lleucu George. The head coach, Rowland Phillips, has made nine changes as Wales, who cannot reach the semi-finals, seek a first victory of their campaign.

“Our commitment and improvement was there for everyone to see against Canada,” he said. “We pushed a very good team all the way, and we’ve got to take inspiration from that.”

England side to face USA

D Waterman; A Wilson-Hardy, E Scarratt, A Reed, K Wilson; K Mclean, N Hunt; V Cornborough, A Cokayne, S Bern, A Scott, T Taylor, A Matthews, M Packer, S Hunter (capt).

Replacements: V Fleetwood, R Clark, J Lucas, P Cleall, H Millar-Mills, L Riley, R Burford, M Jones.