Thirty-four players will assemble on Tuesday to prepare for the Red Roses’ Guinness Women’s Six Nations opener against Italy on Sunday 24 March. May Campbell (Saracens) will provide injury cover for Amy Cokayne (Leicester Tigers). Cath O’Donnell (Loughborough Lightning) will continue her Return to Performance with the squad with Lilli Ives Campion (Loughborough Lightning) providing
Women’s Six Nations 2024 Now the men’s tournament is out of the way, we can start getting excited about its warm weather alternative. The women’s version is being given more hype than ever, which is excellent. Each union is keeping us up-to-date with events, Guinness is pulling out all the stops (not forgetting the pints)
It will be fascinating to see what changes in game-structure John Mitchell will insist on his first venture into women’s international rugby. We know he wants to speed things up. Since the Red Roses play faster than any other team on earth, we may wonder where the accelerator will be pushed. Death to all Caterpillars?
Only four days after publishing their 2024 Six Nations team did FFR announce their captain. Manae Feleu was again honoured. The English tend to appoint their captains according to seniority. The last exception I can recall was Will Carling, then 22. At the moment Marlie Packer is in charge. She can look back across 99
John Mitchell has announced his first Red Roses 6 Nations Squad. It is 35 strong: Forwards Zoe Aldcroft (Gloucester-Hartpury, 48 caps), Lark Atkin-Davies (Bristol Bears, 54 caps), Sarah Beckett (Gloucester-Hartpury, 34 caps), Hannah Botterman (Bristol Bears, 42 caps), Mackenzie Carson (Gloucester-Hartpury, 10 caps), Poppy Cleall (Saracens, 65 caps), Kelsey Clifford (Saracens, 3 caps), Amy Cokayne
The French management has gone its own way again, and good luck to them. They have announced a squad of 32 for the first two Six Nations games only, against Ireland and Scotland (see full list below). So far as the public goes, the names of the backs might have been drawn out of a
As France are going to be the last to disclose their squad, I’ll leave them to a later posting. Italy Disturbing news has emerged from Italy, as yet unconfirmed, that the contracted Azzurre were not paid in January or February. This comes as a huge shock and setback. We may cautiously hope there is a
A look at Cymru, Ireland, and Scotland Less than three weeks to go, and here’s a first look forward to this latest version of the great annual championship. I’ll consider the Celtic nations here. First the background What are the chances of an upset this year? Not very strong, I fear. Pick any starting XV
Giovanni Raineri has announced his Six Nations squad for the 2024 Championship. It is: Ilaria Arrighetti (Stade Rennais), Beatrice Capomaggi (Villorba Rugby), Alice Cassaghi (CUS Milano Rugby), Giulia Cavina (CUS Milano Rugby), Micol Cavina (Villorba Rugby), Alyssa D’Inca (Villorba Rugby), Valeria Fedrighi (Stade Toulousain), Lucia Gai (Valsugana Rugby Padova), Elisa Giordano (Valsugana Rugby Padova), Francesca
It’s almost a pity that Bryan Easson should announce his Six Nations squad so soon after Scott Bemand did the same for ireland. The one news item tends to mask the other. And the news from Edinburgh is very similar: here seven uncapped players rather than eight; here a number of players who attracted attention
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