It's a massive loss - Heard on Jones injury

Tatyana Heard says the injury to her England centre partner Meg Jones as a "massive loss" for the Red Roses.

Jones picked up a “significant ankle injury” ruling her out for all of the Red Roses Autumn fixtures.

In the absence of Jones, Gloucester-Hartpury's Heard is expected to continue in the 12 shirt for friendlies with France and New Zealand but is under pressure to form a new centre partnership.

Emily Scarratt, Phoebe Murray and Katie Buchanan are all contenders to play outside centre.

"It creates opportunities for other people," said Heard. "It should be an interesting few weeks and an exciting time for whoever gets that opportunity."

The Red Roses face France, who they defeated 42-21 in April to seal a third Six Nations Grand Slam in a row, on Saturday in Gloucester.

They then welcome the world champions to the newly named Allianz Stadium - which was previously Twickenham - on 14 September.

Leicester Tigers player Jones is known for her all-round game as well as being a large character in the England squad.

"Meg is huge for us, her personality on and off field is massive," said Heard, who also detailed how she was working on building new combinations.

"I think the biggest different is the noise level, no one can be louder than Meg.

“Noticing one person's voice to another, I think is something that goes unsaid, but it is a big thing. If I get used to hearing one person's voice I can tune into that very easily. Having to listen more to tune into a different tone, is a big difference for me."

While giving nothing away of who she might play with, Heard said that it would not be her pulling on a 13 jersey: "I'm just a one trick pony, just a 12."

As the backs are adjusting to new combinations, England's forwards are reasonably settled.

Prop Maud Muir says the friendlies against rivals France and New Zealand are "like nothing" the Red Roses have "ever experienced" before.

The two difficult warm-up matches are to help aid preparation for WXV1 in Canada, where John Mitchell’s side aim to defend their title they won after defeating New Zealand in Auckland last year.

"We are used to slightly easier warm-up games," Muir said. "It is a big challenge, but we have definitely prepared as anything can happen in the first game of the season.

"The first game is always rusty, hopefully not too much on our part.

"It'll be an interesting game to see where we are at and where we need to work."