Perhaps no player has personified the gulf between England and the rest of the Women’s Six Nations more than Sarah Bern. The tighthead prop is still only 25 but is already on her way to becoming England’s greatest-ever prop – with all due respect to the incomparable Rocky Clark.
This weekend, when England travel to Cardiff to take on Wales, who are also unbeaten, Bern’s opposite number will be a similarly prodigious talent.
At just 19, Sisilia Tuipulotu is firmly entrenched as the cornerstone around which the Wales pack is built. With three tries and two Player of the Match awards in as many games, it is no understatement to say that she is the most important player in Ioan Cunningham’s side – no mean feat given she only settled on the front row over the past 12 months.
Tuipulotu’s sheer physicality provides Wales with a weapon that even the mighty Red Roses will struggle to contain. She gets over the gain line with ease and is almost unstoppable close to the try line.
Bern is different, popping up regularly in the wide channels and acting as an auxiliary three-quarter, combining the pace to leave many backs in her wake, with the power to brush off those who can keep up with her. Add in her passing, comparable to the best fly-halves in the game, and it is clear there is still more to Bern’s game than her young rival at this stage.
And yet the England star knows Tuipulotu, who plies her club rugby with Gloucester-Hartpury in the Premier 15s, is only starting to tap into her potential.
Bern said of Tuipulotu: “She seems like an absolutely lovely girl. I know from a lot of the Gloucester-Hartpury players that she’s a brilliant athlete.
“She’s also super strong and she’s naturally this big ball carrier and that’s your super strength so run with it. That’s what I would say to a younger player, develop your super strength and keep pushing it and keep getting better and everything else will come.
“But, at the end of the day, we know we’re all tightheads, so we have to make sure that we can scrum first! It is probably not everyone’s favourite thing in the world, but that is also something I’d say to any youngster coming through that wants to be a centre but you have to learn how to scrummage.”
The scrum battle has the potential to be decisive – Wales’ pack were able to dominate in the set-piece against Ireland and Scotland, but England will be another challenge entirely.
There will be a level of familiarity between the teams – all 23 players in the Wales matchday squad ply their trade in England, including the front row of Tuipulotu, Gloucester-Hartpury colleague Kelsey Jones and Bern’s Bristol Bears teammate Gwenllian Pyrs.
If Wales are to record only their third-ever win over England, and a first since 2015, the scrum is an area they will have to dominate.
Realistically, England should still have too much, even in front of a sold-out Arms Park cheering on a team on the rise.
The challenge for Wales will be to make this competitive. They have shipped a half-century of points in each of their last five meetings with the Red Roses.
If they can keep this one close, the prospect of a team other than France challenging England in the immediate future will start to take shape, with clear improvements visible since the introduction of professional contracts at the start of last year.
At the heart of their challenge will be Tuipulotu, looking to show that like Bern, she can become the face of a side on a path to the top.
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