England’s Red Roses secure their 22nd Championship
In the final fixture of the 2026 Championship, England defeated France 43-28 in a winner-takes-all showdown for the Championship and Grand Slam, in front of a record crowd at Stade Atlantique Bordeaux Métropole.
England claimed an historic eighth straight Championship and fifth straight Grand Slam, extending their unbeaten run to 38 Tests and reaffirming their status as one of the most dominant sides in world sport.
Key Facts and Figures from the 2026 Guinness Women’s Six Nations
A Record-Breaking year for the Guinness Women’s Six Nations
Record Viewership across markets
18.12M – the highest recorded Championship audience across Six Nations core markets in Women’s Six Nations history, representing a +23% Year-on-Year increase from 2025.
Record audiences were observed by national broadcasters across all Six Nations markets during the 2026 Championship.
Attendance: 2026, a record year for the Championship
279,750 – the highest recorded championship attendance in Women’s Six Nations history, representing a 85% Year-on-Year increase from 2025 (Previous record: 188,128 fans in 2024).
New Championship attendance records have been set in five of the six participating nations in 2026: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland.
England: 77,120 (vs Ireland at Allianz Stadium in Round 1)
France: 35,062 (vs England at Stade Atlantique Bordeaux Metropole in Round 5)
Ireland: 31,294 (vs Scotland at Aviva Stadium in Round 5)
Scotland: 30,498 (vs England at Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium in Round 2)
Italy: 4,787 (vs Scotland at Stade Sergio Lanfranchi in Round 3)
England’s opening fixture against Ireland at Allianz Stadium was the biggest match attendance in Guinness Women’s Six Nations history. While attendance for Scotland vs England in Edinburgh, was the largest attendance ever recorded for a standalone women’s sporting event in Scotland.
Record Engagement Online
94.9M & 2.8M – (Views & Engagements) Record engagement across Guinness Women’s Six Nations social channels during a Championship, representing a 128% Year-on-Year increase in view count and a 131% Year-on-Year increase in terms of Women’s Six Nations channels engagements.
Records on the Pitch – The 2026 Championship Delivered Pure Sporting Entertainment
955 – Record Number of Points Scored during a Guinness Women’s Six Nations campaign (average of 63.6 per game), surpassing the previous record of 839 points scored in 2025.
147 – Record Number of Tries Scored during a Guinness Women’s Six Nations campaign (average of 9.8 per game), surpassing the previous record of 126 tries scored in 2025.
283 – England’s Record Number of Points Scored by a team in a Guinness Women’s Six Nations campaign (+1 better than their points record of 2022).
“Super Sunday” Viewership Highlights
Round 5 Audiences – A Super “Super Sunday”
5.27M – The combined audience produced across Six Nations core markets in the final round of Guinness Women’s Six Nations – representing a +64% Year-on-Year increase from 2025 and the highest recorded audience for a single round of fixtures in the Championships’ history.
Round 5 Audiences – Records Across Six Nations Core Markets
4.7M – The combined audience from the France vs England title decider was the highest for a Women’s Six Nations game in history and represented a 60% Year-On-Year increase from the reverse fixture in 2025.
3.1M – France TV’s audience for the France vs England fixture resulted in an audience share of 25.8% – both representing French records for a Women’s Six Nations game.
3.7M – France TV also set the record for the highest peak audience for a Women’s Six Nations game.
1.6M – BBC1’s audience for the France vs England fixture resulted in the highest audience share of 17.9%, both UK records for a Women’s Six Nations game.
455K – Audience for the Wales vs Italy opener which was broadcast on BBC2 and Sky Italia, a +300% Year-on-Year increase from the fixture last year and highest on record for a Wales vs Italy game.
104K – Virgin Media’s audience in the Ireland vs Scotland game was the highest recorded in Ireland for this fixture.
127K – Viewership on the Women’s Six Nations Youtube channel on Super Sunday, a record for the channel.
Celebrating Standout Individual Performances During the 2026 Guinness Women’s Six Nations
The 2026 Capgemini Team of the Championship has been revealed.
15. Ellie Kildunne (ENG)
14. Anaïs Grando (FRA)
13. Meg Jones (ENG)
12. Aoife Dalton (IRE)
11. Jess Breach (ENG)
10. Zoe Harrison (ENG)
9. Pauline Bourdon Sansus (FRA)
1. Ambre Mwayembe (FRA)
2. Amy Cokayne (ENG)
3. Sarah Bern (ENG)
4. Madoussou Fall Raclot (FRA)
5. Abi Burton (ENG)
6. Erin King (IRE)
7. Francesca Sgorbini (ITA)
8. Aoife Wafer (IRE)
The four nominees for Guinness Player of the Championship will be announced Friday 22 May at 1pm BST.
England’s Marlie Packer finishes as the top try scorer of the 2026 Guinness Women’s Six Nations.
Packer is one of eight players to have scored 5 or more tries during this year’s tournament.
France’s Pauline Barrat wins BKT Rising Player Award
In her maiden Guinness Women’s Six Nations campaign, France’s Pauline Barrat has won the BKT Rising Player award, assigned to the most promising young international rugby players.
England’s Ellie Kildunne voted the British Rugby Union Writers’ Club personality of the year
England’s Ellie Kildunne capped a superb season by being voted the British Rugby Union Writers’ Club personality of the year on Monday, a day after scoring two tries in the country’s 43-28 Six Nations Grand Slam-winning victory over France.
2026 also saw the launch of the new Six Nations U21 Women’s Series
New for 2026 is the launch of the Six Nations U21 Women’s Series – there has never been a stronger pathway from the development competitions to the elite game, with Round 2 of the W6N offering a double header weekend, with U21 fixtures taking place right before or right after the W6N fixtures .
The Women’s U21 Six Nations evolves the U20 Women’s Summer Series, to close the age gap between the development competition and the elite game to help more players graduate into the W6N,
31 players who played in the U20s Summer Series last year are taking part in the Guinness Women’s Six Nations this year. These include: 2 players from France, 5 from Ireland, 5 from Italy, 5 from Scotland, 9 from Wales, 5 from England.
Coming off the back of a record-breaking 2026 Championship, Six Nations Rugby has confirmed that every single round of the 2027 Guinness Women’s Six Nations will take place on a Saturday.
The move to a “Super Saturday” format for every round is designed to give fans a consistent takeover experience. Whether you’re watching at the stadium or settled in on the sofa, you can now enjoy three back-to-back international fixtures every single Saturday.
All venues for the 2027 Championship will be confirmed in due course.
See the full list of fixtures here
With thanks to the Women’s 6 Nations
