Emily Scarratt says reaching a century of England caps in her hometown of Leicester is a dream come true.
The 32-year old World Cup winner will pick up her 100th cap tomorrow [Sun] when the Six Nations leaders take on Ireland at Welford Road.
“I don’t know who’s writing my scripts but I owe them a drink,” she said. “Growing up I had a season ticket at Leicester. This is the best it could be.”
More than 15,000 tickets have been sold for a match being shown live on BBC 2.
England coach Simon Middleton said: “It will be an incredible occasion for ‘Scaz’ in her hometown. The stars have really aligned.
“If the situation was right she’d be the first million pound player. That’s how good she is. There’s nothing she can’t do.”
Sunday’s clash will contrast with Scarratt’s first cap in front of little more than a hundred fans at Esher when England played USA in 2008.
She had been called back from a girls’ holiday in Cyprus, having just left school, and came off the bench for the last half an hour.
Six years later she scored 16 points as England beat Canada to win the World Cup final.
Victory for England would set up a winner-takes-all Grand Slam decider against France in Bayonne next week - France having beaten Wales 33-5 in Cardiff last night.
England: Rowland; Thompson, Scarratt, Aitchison, Breach; Harrison, Infante; Cornborough, Davies, Bern, Aldcroft, Ward, Matthews, Packer, Hunter (capt).
Replacements: Cokayne, Botterman, Muir, Galligan, Cleall, Hunt, Reed, Kildunne.
Ireland: Scuffil-McCabe; Doyle, Naoupu, Breen, Considine; Cronin, Dane; Djougang, Jones, Haney; Fryday (capt), McDermott; Wall, McMahon, O'Connor.
Replacements: Hooban, Pearse, O'Dwyer, Moore, Og O'Leary, Reilly, Claffey, Byrne.
