TWO England World Cup stars are among the first five players to commit to St Helens Women for the new season.

Emily Rudge and Faye Gaskin have agreed to play for the new team alongside Tara Jones, Dawn Taylor and Katie May.

“Emily is a powerful and aggressive back-rower with a tremendous work rate,” said head coach Mark Brennan.

“In the World Cup, despite coming off the bench against Papua New Guinea, she was top tackler. She was also named as England’s best and fairest player in the tournament.

“She joins Faye who is the current England stand-off. Faye is a great organiser who will steer the team around the pitch and her attitude is fantastic.”

The quintet link up with Brennan and his assistant Andrew Raines to start training straight away.

Jones joins the Saints after being unlucky to miss out on the World Cup.

She is a quality hooker who, like Rudge, played her rugby at Thatto Heath.

Jones is seen as one of the future stars of the game both as a player and a match official.

She officiates at Scholarship and NCL level and should be promoted to Division One this season.

She has also officiated in the Challenge Cup competition and at Wembley for the Championship Schools - the curtain raiser to the Challenge Cup Final.

Taylor, meanwhile, is a police offer based in Runcorn who has played for Lancashire and England Lionesses.

She was previously at Warrington Ladies before joining Thatto Heath.

She is a forward who runs and tackles hard.

Teammate May also played at Thatto Heath.

She is a strong and aggressive running centre who has represented Lancashire and England Lionesses.

More signings are to be announced shortly.

Brennan added: “We are really looking forward to working with these ladies and further developing their games. We are excited about the future for the Saints.”

If you would like to be involved and sponsor either a player or the team then please contact Craig Richards on craig.richards@saintsrlfc.com.