First England try was 'special', says Carson

Prop Mackenzie Carson won three caps for Canada before switching allegiance to England

Venue: StoneX Stadium, London Date: Saturday, 30 September Kick-off: 15:00 BST
Coverage: Live text updates on the BBC Sport website and app.

Former Canada prop Mackenzie Carson said scoring her first England try against the country she used to represent was "special".

"It was special to get that first try - and against some familiar faces was even better," she told BBC Sport.

The two sides meet again on Saturday in the second game of their two-Test series at StoneX Stadium.

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Carson, who plays for Gloucester-Hartpury, won three caps for Canada before switching allegiance to England this year.

"During the pre-match national anthems was probably the strangest moment because, growing up in Canada, I have heard that anthem a lot of times," added the 25-year-old prop.

"But now I feel really at home in England and that is where my heart lies. A part of me will always be Canadian and it's really cool to experience playing against them but I love playing for England and it's such a cool experience.

"When I got the ball in my hands I thought I had better finish it because there is no one really around me. I was thinking I had better score or I'm getting turned over.

"I play against a lot of them in the Premier 15s week in and week out so it wasn't too different from that. But I've quite a few friends on the [Canadian] team so it was great to catch up with them after the match."

'The structure has changed a little bit'

Last weekend's eight-try victory for England was their first under new stand-in coach Louis Deacon as part of their preparations for next month's inaugural WXV tournament.

Deacon replaced Simon Middleton, who finished his eight-year reign as England head coach after guiding the Roses to a fifth consecutive Six Nations title earlier this year.

Former New Zealand coach John Mitchell will take permanent charge of the Red Roses when he leaves his coaching role with Japan's men at the end of the Rugby World Cup in France.

Carson added: "We have had some new coaches come in and the structure has changed a little bit so we've just been cleaning up those areas and refining our execution and making sure when we get into scoring opportunities, we finish those off.

"We've had just a few clean-ups around our set-piece as well, so nothing that is not fixable or that we haven't done before. There is a bit of rotation in the team so we have been working on different combinations, which is great."

Flanker Maisy Allen will make her first Test start in a much-changed England side.

Deacon makes nine changes to the side that cruised to victory at Exeter's Sandy Park on 23 September, with Carson among those dropping out of the starting XV.

England, ranked number one in the world, beat Canada in last year's World Cup semi-final before losing to hosts New Zealand in the final.

They will face both sides again in the cross-pool format of the new WXV tournament, which Carson says will provide one of their "biggest challenges".

"We will have had these two games against Canada and we will face them again at WXV, so it's probably the first opportunity we have had to consistently play the top four teams in the world back-to-back," she added.

"It will be a really big test for us going back to New Zealand and facing them. The whole tournament structure, in general, is really exciting and gives everyone the opportunity to experience high-level rugby.

"It will be one of our biggest challenges in terms of the turnaround and the structure, but everyone is excited."

Krissy Scurfield will make her Test debut on the wing as one of Canada's four changes, with Olivia DeMerchant, Sara Svoboda and Taylor Perry also getting starts.

Line-ups

England: Kildunne; Breach, Jones, Reed, MacDonald; Aitchison, Hunt; Botterman, Cokayne, Muir, Aldcroft, Beckett, Talling, Allen, Packer (capt).

Replacements: Powell, Carson, Bern, O'Donnell, Galligan, Packer, Bridger, Dow.

Canada: Grant; Farries, Bermudez, Perry, Scurfield; Gallagher, Pelletier; DeMerchant, Tuttosi, Menin, Beukeboom, Holtkamp, Senft, Svoboda, De Goede.

Replacements: Boag, Hunt, Ellis, Royer, Forteza, Apps, Seumanutafa, Symonds.