Is it a going concern?
We’ve had the traditional barrage of criticism of the Six Nations set-up. “A foregone conclusion”. “What’s the point? England always win”. Even “it’s a bore”.
The strange fact is, the championship is more popular than ever. Crowds go on growing (with exceptions), media coverage (social and public) increases. Players’ names and faces are becoming more widely familiar.
The short answer to my question is: “Yes, a hundred times over”.
The final weekend was all the proof we needed: two intensely dramatic finishes, then a wooden-spoon game that showed one team looking like world beaters.
The underlying weaknesses remain, above all in the relative strength of the six competitors, far wider than in the men’s version. In the latter only Italy, the latest to join, have yet to win the trophy.
Since the start of the women’s Six Nations in 2002 only three have won, Ireland twice, France six times, England all the rest. That shouldn’t surprise us. Matters like population size, the popularity of the game nationally and the willingness of women and girls to take up the sport determine success.
The increasing presence of professionalism makes levelling-up harder. Money is the root of all evil, and in sport it is the defining issue. Competing nations vary enormously in their funding, but hardly any rugby institutions show a profit and don’t worry about tomorrow.
How did they fare?
England: still on top, but doubts sprouted again at Twickenham.
France: still so near, but trophies remain elusive. 42 points away to England in a losing cause.
Ireland: the one side obviously on the rise, but a loss in Round Five was a cold douche.
Italy: the win against the weakest team showed their great potential, but the sport remains a minor interest nationally.
Scotland: improving, but slowly; a much wider player pool urgently needed.
Wales: the one big concern; a rugby nation in strife; no short-term solution for the women’s team.
Short-form Table
Pts
England 28
France 21
Ireland 11
Italy 9
Scotland 5
Wales 1
General
Plenty of good play, excitement and tension.
Public interest and coverage increasing
Desperately close at the top of the table – one point!
The middle placements, 3rd-5th, less predictable.
What improvements can Sean Lynn make in Wales?
Trends
A The cross-kick is now the flavour of the year. Some people insist on calling it the kick-pass, but the two aren’t the same. The kick-pass can be of any length; some of the most devilish are the short ones. The X-kick really has to travel at least half the width of the pitch. Both types led to memorable tries.
It is now so familiar that opposing defences are just beginning to take counter-measures. An experienced operator like Chloe Rollie will spot the signs and stay wide to cover.
B Is the sequence: penalty kick to touch – line-out – rolling maul – try! now too familiar, too inevitable?
Every forward will tell you how difficult it is to build the perfect driving maul and keep it moving all the way. It is a great art that requires endless practice and very often fails. Yet it seems to me to create more tries at top level than that most basic of patterns, the 2 v 1. Hookers expect to appear among the top try-scorer lists.
C All too often a strong raid on the line draws defences in to a narrowing line, all eyes on the ball or the ball-carrier. Even England have been found out, a lone winger left to cover two or three opponents.
D An unfulfilled trend was the wondrous drop-goal by Pauline Bourdon Sansus. It’s a great rarity in the women’s game; far less so in the men’s. One reason is that it offers only a 3-point reward. Once upon a time it was worth 4. But France have chosen to rely heavily on Morgane Bourgeois’ goal-kicking talents. The end of the 43-42 game didn’t offer an obvious chance of another drop.
E The referee’s “held-up” signal is now astonishingly frequent. The try-line is still a mile wide, so why this strange abundance?
F There were two new bosses in place, Fabio Roselli (Italy) and Sean Lynn (Wales). They came to power in different circumstances.
Italy had progressed slowly under the short reign of Nanni Raineri, too slowly for the FIR’s liking. To judge by their latest showing, the squad approved of the change. The only surprise about Lynn’s elevation was his willingness to move from the most successful club in PWR history to a national side that was hunting for a life-jacket.
Roselli can feel pleased with the overall performance of the Azzurre. When they produce play of the quality of Round Five against a top team, we can say he and they have arrived.
As Lynn signed his contract he knew the size of the task he was taking on. After Parma he may wonder if he has still the answers.
G Dual bosses – there is an increasing trend towards shared responsibilities. France remain unique in employing two co-coaches (I for one can’t see the advantage), but at player level it is commoner.
France and Ireland use co-captains (though Sam Monaghan’s absence left Edel McMahon in sole charge). John Mitchell introduced a pattern of co-vice-captains (Marlie Packer and Meg Jones), though I suspect this was more a case of softening the blow for England’s outgoing captain.
At one grade below, teams have a leadership group, whose work is important on and off the field. During gaps in onfield play the need is to avoid too many voices offering mixed messages.
The post of captain involves time-consuming tasks, these days including multiple post-match interviews. How the job is shared out between two players is a matter decided by the management and the pair themselves. It can be tricky.
Attendances
This remains a favourite hobby-horse of mine. England leapt from their first five-figure gate at Exeter (10,545) in 2019 to a colossal 58,498 at HQ four years later. For the three subsequent matches there the attendance has diminished each time. I have heard no mention of this fall-away from the RFU or the media.
37,572 watched the latest England-France match; that means a loss of 20,926 across two years, nearly twice the Exeter figure. Is the public fighting shy of one-sided games? 43-42 deserved an X-certificate. Is the RFU still hopeful of filling Twickenham on finals day, 27 September?
One strong argument of going to women’s internationals at HQ is the ticket-price. For the men’s equivalents it’s an arm and a leg.
The WRU took the bold step of using the Principality Stadium for the 2024 match against Italy.
10,592 spectators turned up, setting as new record. This year the figure doubled to 21,186. While we can’t tell how many Red Rose fans crossed the Severn Bridge to watch, it does at least prove that big records can go on being broken.
A stark contrast is provided by the last match of the 2025 championship. A minute crowd of 1,899 turned out to support a magnificent Azzurre side. Italy is a nation that loves its sport, so we can see all too clearly the ground rugby has to make up on other more popular pursuits.
Apart from those two Welsh successes at their Cardiff HQ, only France and England expect to reach that valued 5-figure total. How do the publicists lure the sofa-sitters to see game in the flesh?
Part Two to follow
