| Venue: Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Parma Date: Sunday, 24 March Kick-off: 15:00 GMT |
| Coverage: Watch live on BBC Two, BBC iPlayer and online; text commentary, highlights and report on BBC Sport website and app. |
England women want Pennyhill Park to become their “consistent training base”, says head coach John Mitchell.
The men’s team stayed and trained at the five-star hotel during the Six Nations but the women used other venues in the build-up to their tournament.
They are now training at Pennyhill but staying at a four-star hotel nearby.
In response the Rugby Football Union (RFU) said: “As the game continues to grow and evolve the RFU will assess where investment is prioritised.”
The RFU added: “The Red Roses have consistently used Pennyhill Park as their high-performance training base, in preparation for WXV last year, and will use it throughout the Guinness Women’s Six Nations this year.
“As with the men’s team, at times they have chosen to use training bases elsewhere for exposure to different environments and engaging with different areas of the country.”
In 2024, the England women have used St George’s Park in Burton upon Trent and Hazelwood in Sunbury-on-Thames for camps, along with Pennyhill Park.
Pennyhill Park in Surrey has world-class indoor training facilities as well as a full-size outdoor rugby pitch made from the same grass used at Twickenham Stadium.
Mitchell took the Red Roses head coach role in 2023 and this will be his first Women’s Six Nations.
“Our girls live in a TikTok world these days so it’s important to see it and do it, as opposed to seeing it and having to wait a long time to do it, which you can often find when you go to environments that aren’t conducive to creating that,” Mitchell told BBC Sport.
“The one thing that Pennyhill Park does is allow you to learn quicker and do it quicker so yes, a consistent training base does that.
“But we’re very well resourced and that would probably be the only thing that really I think affects our learning.”
When asked if Mitchell was in discussions with the RFU for the Red Roses to stay permanently at Pennyhill Park, he replied: “We talk about these things, but we also understand the realities of the priorities of tournaments and the way the calendar works.
“But it’s like our time now in the Six Nations and we’re very fortunate to be able to be here.”
The Red Roses start their Six Nations campaign away to Italy in Parma on Sunday.
