England Women will kick off their 2016 Six Nations campaign away to Scotland on Friday 5 February at the Broadwood Stadium, Cumbernauld.
The side will play Ireland and Wales at home this season, with games scheduled at Twickenham Stadium and the Twickenham Stoop.
England will be looking to build on their 2015 placing, where they finished fourth in the table, winning two of their five games.
Eight days after their Scotland opener, on 12 February, the team will travel to Ivrea to take on Italy at the Stadio Gino Pistoni. Their first home game of the championship will be held at Twickenham Stadium, on 27 February, as part of a double header immediately following after the men’s game, when the women take on reigning title holders Ireland. There will be free entry to the match following the final whistle of the men’s game, with kick off at 19:15 and the game will be livestreamed on EnglandRugby.com.
Their only other home game will be held at the Twickenham Stoop against Wales on Saturday 12 March at 18:05, with tickets available via Harlequins here. The game will be broadcast on Sky. The final game of the tournament will take place away to France on Friday 18 March in Vannes with kick off at 21:00 local time and broadcast on FTV 4.
Simon Middleton’s side last lifted the Six Nations trophy in 2012, ending a run of seven consecutive titles, and with Ireland taking two of the last three championships, this year’s tournament is sure to be competitive again.
Middleton said: “We know we’re going to have a fairly young squad again for the Six Nations and the focus will be on our performance, both as a team and for the players as individuals.
“This tournament will again form part of the 2017 World Cup preparation process but while at last year’s Six Nations we focussed on the development of what was a very new squad, we have now evolved. We know that it’s going to be very competitive and very tough, as it was last year, but looking at the fixtures we’ve got, we are hopeful of securing a top two finish.”
The Elite Player Squad came together for a two-day training camp at Loughborough University 2-3 January in preparation for the tournament, following on from the Autumn series in November.
Middleton, who took over as Head Coach in June 2015, added: “We had 30 girls in camp, including some new girls coming through from the National Academy. There’s a good standard of girls, and we are looking in pretty good shape. The girls did exceptionally well in difficult weather circumstances and will now go away and carry on working hard before we come together again at the end of the month for squad selection.”
Report courtesy of England Rugby
