The six nations in turn
Wales
Like Ireland the Welsh squad had suffered badly from the negligent guardianship of the national union. The Irish, as we will see below, had put their house in order sooner.
The Welsh players responded warmly to Sean Lynn’s appointment. A prime need was to restore a degree of confidence, and Lynn wanted the playing style to revert to something closer to great Welsh traditions, a free-flowing game. ‘Let the ball do the work’.
But before the final 6N game his tone had become more schoolmasterly: ‘Must do better’. Sadly they couldn’t. Their second-half performance in Parma tailed off dreadfully.
The sore subject of contracts rises again. When players are paid for their efforts, certain standards are expected. Whatever structural changes Belinda Moore can effect in her short term in office, the outlook will remain grim for a good while.
She has outlined a programme of replacing the two franchises in the Celtic Challenge, Brython Thunder and Gwalia Lightning. She hopes to be able to choose the best bids from the four regions, with Cardiff Met potentially playing a big role. They, as strong as ever, won another BUCS final against Loughborough.
Lynn’s coaching methods will bring improvements, but the prime need is for a host of quality players to arrive. He has made a strong statement about present standards: they are not good enough. Some of the current squad are not worth their place. That is the trough Welsh rugby has tumbled into.
In their present plight we can feel great sympathy for the players. It’s important that criticism is aimed in the right direction.
New faces: Alaw Pyrs and Jenni Scoble
Results: 0 wins, 5 losses
Sixth
Scotland
Bryan Easson is now the longest-serving DoR by a distance. He has worked hard to develop a decent team from thin resources. Scotland’s playing strength is similar to Italy’s, bar the huge discrepancy in national population.
He and the SRU are trying to strengthen standards back home, but the vast majority of the squad operate in England. Nothing new or unique about that, but it hinders combined training sessions, a vital step towards success.
There are few if any alternative solutions to Easson’s problems. Structural improvements (pathways, age-group sides) can only be long-term, and several of the mainstays of the squad are nearer the end of their careers than the start.
There Is an urgent need for competition for several positions in the national side. To take two very senior players: Lana Skeldon and Helen Nelson. Skeldon started every game. Should Elis Martin not have been given her chance in at least one of them? Nelson played almost the entire 400 minutes, leaving the field in rounds 4 and 5 only in the 72nd and 69th minutes. The suspicion is, Easson is too conservative or too afraid to give youth its chance. is the cupboard really so bare?
The players had the pleasure of seeing off their Irish rivals in a dramatic finish to the season, but they were left with only the forlorn Welsh below them in the table. In both attack and defence their
stats ranked a distance below Ireland and Italy’s.
New Face: Becky Boyd
Results: 2 wins, 3 losses
Fifth
Italy
There’s been a lot of favourable reaction to Fabio Roselli’s efforts this campaign, highlighted by the performance against France. Then the outstanding finale against Wales showed the Azzurre at their best. It wasn’t just ‘fling the ball around and hope’; the pack did the hard slog to give the backs the space and time they needed. The back three, Aura Muzzo, Alyssa D’Incá and Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi, form one of the most dangerous attacking trios on the planet. Michela Sillari returned to provide some security off the kicking tee, but was a more limited force in the centre. Roselli was prepared to let Beatrice Rigoni wait on the bench, as Sara Mannini took her place.
The problems Roselli faces are summarised by the number of caps the squad boasts – millions – revealing the lack of competition for places. This is most obvious in the case of Sofia Stefan, the experienced scrum-half. She remains the fulcrum of the side, but at last Roselli gave 19-year-old Alia Bitonci her chance. And Stefan coached her in her teenage years.
The Azzurre showed their quality in the French game. The forwards gave the opposition a hard time, but, as so often, they couldn’t last the full 80 minutes. Fitness levels need to step up. The other major drawback is susceptibilty to penalties. That points to a lack of high-tempo, high quality matches back in the Serie A Elite league.
There, three clubs dominate the scene: Valsugana, Villorba and Colorno. That means a large proportion of matches are one-sided – not the best introduction to international standards.
The national game still suffers from its relative obscurity on the Italian sporting scene. A crowd of a mere 1,899 for Round 5 is all the proof we need. The one inbuilt advantage the Azzurre have over their Celtic rivals is the size of the national population, matching France and England.
They may yet fulfill my hopes of becoming a major power in Europe and beyond, but at the World Cup they face France (again!), Japan and South Africa. None of them is a sure-fire winner.
Results: 2 wins, 3 losses
Fourth
New face: Alia Bitonci
Ireland
They present the biggest success story of all six competing nations. The IRFU confessed its past sins and started supporting the squad as they deserved. Scott Bemand was in his second year in charge. His vast experience with the England team helped him map out the best route forward. In the 2024 season Ireland finished third, but he kept expectations low-key.
He knew he had some highly talented players on the books; they just needed more time to develop. He needed to draw on some of the 7s players to compete, and they responded well.
Amee-Leigh Costigan (who took over as captain in the absence of Edel McMahon and Sam Monaghan) and Stacey Flood showed the way.
A vital ingredient has been the addition of a potentially outstanding generation of younger players, led by Aoife Dalton, Dannah O’Brien and Erin King (sadly another to suffer a long-term injury). This season they played key roles in game-plans.
All these plusses made the final loss in Edinburgh hard to accept. It was narrow, but all the more galling. It may be the trigger for better things to come. With any luck important missing parties like Sam Monaghan and Beibhin Parsons will return fit and flourishing in time for the World Cup.
There they are due to play Japan, Spain and New Zealand. They’ve beaten the world champions off twice now, so they’d better make sure of defeating the other two. Then Irish eyes would smile.
New face: Aoife Corey
Results: 2 wins, 3 losses
Third
France
Perhaps they enjoy remaining an enigma. Les Bleues can unfold the most magical rugby, but they don’t win the trophies.
They beat an improving Ireland by 12 points away, but let Scotland score 15 points in La Rochelle. They beat Wales by a slightly narrower margin than Italy, who gave them an unpleasant shock (21-34) in Parma.
I’ve cast my aspersions on the coaches often enough, but the fact is, even after that pulsating 43-42 finish at Twickenham, they still cannot finish the job the way they would wish.
The squad suffered the usual unwanted injuries, and players were shuffled to give everyone a chance, but the results bear not the slightest resemblance to the astonishing successes of the age-group sides beneath them.
I wonder whether the change in command of the Sevens squad (David Courteix stepped down after a long successful period in charge) made a difference to the harmony between the two coaching staffs. Joanna Grisez was allowed (or opted) to switch to the 15’s squad and added a sharp edge to the attack. Other players used in both codes have come and gone.
As we search for reasons why France can’t emulate England’s success at 15s, that may be the crucial difference. The RFU has more or less washed its hands of 7s. The French squad remains more unpredictable. At one extreme Romane Ménager, returning from a long lay-off for concussion, made her debut with the 7s squad before returning to the 15s fold. A second head injury was a cruel blow.
At the World Cup France face Italy, Brazil (the rank outsiders) and South Africa. They should win all three, but – more important – how far can they go in the knock-outs? Reminder: they haven’t yet appeared in a single final. Are Gaëlle Mignot and David Ortiz the people to overturn history? My frank answer is no. When I’m proved wrong, I will pay penance. But I recall Mignot herself having a poor game in Belfast against England in their key encounter of the 2017 RWC. Tricky for her.
New Face: Taïna Maka
Results: 4 wins, 1 loss
Second
England
The usual criticism is, you expect the best paid professional players in the world to rank top of the pile. That’s luxury living for you.
My view is different. You don’t reach the heights of sporting excellence without innate talent to start with. At its simplest, you don’t create the most successful winger merely by paying her more than her competitors. The Red Roses put in the hard yards and then some.
The climactic match at HQ refuelled all the armchair critics: A can’t tackle, B can’t catch, C has no positional sense; why is D playing, not E? Oh dear.
John Mitchell worked out a careful schedule, so that he could measure players’ qualities as closely as possible. Even his final selection against France was probably not his first choice, forget the injuries.
To the average fan the choice of a perfect Fifteen remains far from clear. We are have our favourites (or our prejudices). Mitchell can’t afford to have them. He admitted he needed to see Helena Rowland and Zoe Harrison operating at 10; he already knew what Holly Aitchison was capable of. We may wonder how far his thoughts have clarified.
The same goes for other positions. The back row is a problem area; far too much talent to fit into three positions. Much depends on whether he persists in keeping his new captain at six. Many, including me, would prefer to see her alongside Abbie Ward. Even better, playing both positions at once, but I’ll never make a head coach role.
Once again the side showed their difficulty in producing an 80-minute game. Perhaps it is an unfair challenge. But those last few minutes of the 2021 (2022) RWC final show how important it is to be able to keep the foot on the throttle all through. The successful teams don’t need an 80th-minute line-out take or penalty kick. They’ve made sure over the preceding 79 minutes.
Seen from a world perspective, the one-point win was good for the game. It showed the champions are vulnerable.
New faces: Lilli Ives Campion, Jade Shekells and Phoebe Murray
Results: 5 wins, 0 losses
First
