A FORMER Herefordshire pupil is in ‘prime position’ to make England Women’s next Rugby World Cup squad after her hat-trick for the Red Roses, believes her club boss.

Lark Davies, who attended Wigmore High School, bagged a Twickenham treble as England beat the Barbarians 40-14 in front of a crowd of 17,902.

The Worcester Valkyries hooker, 24, missed out on selection for the World Cup in 2017 but has established herself as a regular in England head coach Simon Middleton’s squad since.

Davies, who has 19 England caps, was part of the team that won the Six Nations Grand Slam this spring after being awarded a professional contract in January.

And Worcester director of rugby Roy Davies believes she is on track for the next World Cup in New Zealand in 2021.

He said: “The last few years have been massive for Lark – she’s worked incredibly hard and she’s really getting the rewards of that now. She’s been exceptional.

“She’s gone from a point where she wasn’t selected for the last World Cup – which was quite a close decision – to pretty much establishing herself as first choice in that position.

“She started the majority of the games in the Six Nations, all the games in the autumn and obviously last weekend.

“For me, she’s making that real progress to be, if not first choice, then certainly always in that conversation around who starts.

“There will be a lot of water under the bridge by the time we get to the next World Cup – it’s a couple of years down the road – but she is absolutely right in prime position for that.

“I have no doubt that she will continue to work hard, that she will continue to grow and develop and if she does that, I can’t see any reason why she wouldn’t go.”

Davies appointed his namesake as Worcester captain in 2017 and she has shone despite a tough couple of seasons in which Valkyries have twice finished bottom of the Premier 15s.

He added: “It was pretty clear early on that even though she was quite a young player, she had really good leadership qualities particularly in that she’s very much a doer.

“She’s very much someone who delivers and that encourages people to meet her standards – she really leads by example.”