Next year’s fixtures have been published gratifyingly early. The programme lasts from 22 March to 26 April. There’s a single rest week after Round Two. The first four rounds follow the pattern: two Saturday matches, one Sunday As usual the final round finishes on a single day. How about calling it Super Saturday? That would
Head coach LJ Lewis and assistant coach Sarah McKenna have named a 30-player England Rugby Women’s Pathway squad for the first Six Nations Women’s Summer Series this July in Parma, Italy. With a squad made up of predominantly U20 players, England will face Ireland (4 July, 17:30 BST kick-off), Wales (9 July, 20:00 BST kick-off)
The Grand Slam winning fullback claimed 38% of the 32,240 fan votes to win this year’s award Kildunne was shortlisted alongside France back row Romane Ménager, Ireland’s breakthrough back row Aoife Wafer and Italy winger Alyssa D’Inca The award nominees were based on the players who topped the performance statistics charts, before being put to
Six Nations Women’s Summer Series offers a new step on the women’s rugby development pathway The inaugural Women’s Summer Series will take place in Parma, Italy with three match days between the 4th – 14th July All Six Nations unions and federations will participate, bringing together players, coaches and match officials from each country Each
The Red Roses completed one of their most impressive Six Nations series to ensure John Mitchell got away to a perfect start. One record that has been little remarked: they became the first team to record full points (28) in a campaign involving three away matches. Their previous Grand Slam wins (with bonus points) all
Attendances Let’s take that easy topic first. But even it is riddled with tricky questions. Do gates matter? – Notice how clubs and nations only publish attendances when they reflect well on them. Bill Sweeney, the RFU’s COE, has given a hopeful response: “Long term we believe it (the Red Roses’ programme) is going to
France v England Result: France 21 England 42 Player of the Match: Alex Matthews England won in Bordeaux far more decisively than in Bayonne two years ago. That helped the John Mitchell disciples, led vigorously by Maggie Alphonsi, to underline the improvements that have taken place since the change in head-coachship. But a salient fact
Ireland v Scotland Kingspan Stadium, Belfast The tightness of the score tells us much of what was at stake in Belfast. World Cup qualification and WXV standings mean a lot to people. Dannah O’Brien made clear from the start how Ireland were planning domination: through her boot. She sent a kick very high and the
Cymru v Italy This was the start of a thrilling three-act play. For once the soupy title “Super Saturday” lived up to its billing. Lucia Gai appeared first, to celebrate a well-deserved 100 caps. Two early box-kicks didn’t bode well, and as we look back with hindsight, we can see that the game was more
Wales v Italy, Principality Stadium, Cardiff; KO 12.15 Ireland v Scotland, Kingspan Stadium, Belfast; KO 14.30 France v England, Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux; KO 16.45 All times BST The six teams are listed below. On a momentous weekend of women’s rugby pride of place must go to Lucia Gai, who is looking forward to her 100th
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