The Women’s Six Nations is just around the corner, with this year’s tournament set to be bigger and better than ever.England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales will battle it out for the title as the competition returns to its traditional round-robin group format.It is the second time the Women’s Six Nations will take place in its own window, separate to the men’s event. This year will also see a title sponsor – TikTok – for the first time in the competition’s history.With anticipation mounting, GiveMeSport Women runs through everything you need to know about the Women’s Six Nations.
When is the Women’s Six Nations?
The Women’s Six Nations is set to get underway tomorrow, with Scotland taking on defending champions England and Ireland coming up against Wales.
The full schedule can be found here:
Round One:
Saturday, 26th March
Scotland vs England, 12:00 GMT
Ireland vs Wales, 16:45 GMT
Sunday, 27th March
France vs Italy, 16:00 GMT
Round Two:
Saturday, 2nd April
France vs Ireland, 15:15 GMT
Wales vs Scotland, 16:45 GMT
Sunday, 3rd April
Italy vs England, 16:00 GMT
Round Three:
Saturday, 9th April
England vs Wales, 16:45 GMT
Sunday, 10th April
Scotland vs France, 13:00 GMT
Ireland vs Italy, 17:00 GMT
Round Four:
Friday, 22nd April
Wales vs France, 20:00 GMT
Saturday, 23rd April
Italy vs Scotland, 20:20 GMT
Sunday, 24th April
England vs Ireland, 12:00 GMT
Round Five:
Saturday, 30th April
Wales vs Italy, 12:00 GMT
France vs England, 15:15 GMT
Ireland vs Scotland, 20:00 GMT
Where is the Women’s Six Nations?
The Women’s Six Nations will be hosted across 12 venues. England will hold their home matches at the Kingsholm Stadium and Welford Road Stadium.
France will play their home matches at the Stade des Alpes, Stade Ernest-Wallon and Stade Jean Dauger, while Ireland will host games at the RDS Arena, Musgrave Park and Kingspan Stadium.
Italy and Wales will use just one venue each – the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi and Cardiff Arms Park respectively – while Scotland are set to play at the DAM Health Stadium and Scotstoun Stadium.
Team news
England:
England are not just Women’s Six Nations reigning champions – they’re unbeaten in the tournament for three years. They will be captained by Sarah Hunter.
France:
France finished last year’s tournament as runners-up, and will be looking to put even more pressure on England this time around. Gaëlle Hermet will be their captain.
Ireland:
Last year’s third-placed team will be captained by Nichola Fryday.
Italy:
Italy will be hoping to improve on their fourth-place finish at last year’s tournament. Manuela Furlan is set to lead the team.
Scotland:
Rachel Malcolm is the captain of Scotland, who finished fifth at the Women’s Six Nations last year.
Wales:
Wales had an extremely disappointing competition last year, failing to win a match and finishing last. Siwan Lillicrap will be aiming to inspire her side to do better this time around.
How to watch the Women’s Six Nations
In the UK, BBC and S4C will be showing all games, with one match per weekend on network channels.
In Ireland, RTE and Virgin Media will be sharing coverage, while all of France’s games will be shown on France TV. Italian rugby fans will be able to follow all games on Sky Italia.
Tickets are also still available for Women’s Six Nations. More details can be found here.