Can anyone stop England’s Red Roses’ Six Nations dominance? Defending champions are destroying all before them
England’s Red Roses are seeking a fifth Six Nations title in a row, and sixth in the last seven years
For nearly the entirety of the first half of Saturday’s Women’s Six Nations clash between Wales and England at Cardiff Arms Park, the contest was a tight, extremely competitive affair. Yet, 40 minutes later, the final score read Wales 3-59 England.
Played in front of a record home crowd of nearly 9,000, with stands awash with red in spring sunshine, it was an occasion which reflected and optimism which had never before been so high, nor the mood so buoyant regarding Wales’ women’s side.
And with good reason. Wales have never won the Women’s Six Nations title since its advent in 1996, but into the second year of professional contracts, off the back of comprehensive victories over Ireland and Scotland, and with a 19-year-old tighthead in Sisilia Tuipulotu who has transformed Wales’ scrummaging abilities, and their capability to strike for close-range tries, there was huge belief.
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The opening 36 minutes backed up all of that. Wales were frequently camped in the Red Roses’ 22, forced scrum penalties, competed fiercely at the breakdown and looked a threat with ball in hand. They appeared a match for England’s trophy-laden competitors in all facets. And had home advantages.
Crucially, though, Wales could only take a 3-0 lead, when their pressure arguably warranted more. Up the other end, England were far less charitable. Lucy Packer struck against the run of the play for her first, while Tatyana Heard grabbed a critical second with half-time fast approaching for a 12-3 lead.
It was Abby Dow’s scintillating individual try with the clock in the red that seemed to kill off Wales’ spirit and confidence though. In at half-time, having fought so hard and been well in the game, they were somehow 19-3 behind.
Wales couldn’t recover, and England never looked back, going ballistic in the second half in Cardiff to score six further tries en route to yet another ugly scoreline from the tournament’s perspective.
Wales put England under pressure for the opening half hour, but the Red Roses went ballistic in the second half
It was meant to be the day Wales gave England a rattle. And, in many ways, they did. But hopes that this would mark the start of a truly competitive Women’s Six Nations – filling up with professional teams – failed to materialize.
The Red Roses are seeking a fifth straight Six Nations title, and sixth in the last seven years. They have truly dominated the championship in recent times, with each of those title wins coming by way of a Grand Slam – aside from 2021 when Covid-19 brought a reduced format. Can anyone stop them?
Scotland were swatted aside 58-7 in Round 1, and though qualification for the recent World Cup in New Zealand marked a huge step forward for the Scots, they remain a good bit behind other sides, with full-time contracts only handed out for the first time in December, as 28 professional deals were agreed.
England beat Scotland 58-7 in Round 1 of the Six Nations this year
Round 2 saw Italy demolished 68-5 by England, and while the Azzurri have only recently shown themselves to be a competitive force again on the men’s side of things, the women’s side have regularly battled away from the foot of the table – only ever collecting three Wooden Spoons and currently ranked fifth in the world. They are a long way from beating the well-oiled machine that are the Red Roses though.
April 2022 saw the Italian Rugby Federation hand out 25 full-time professional contracts. And, like Wales and Scotland, the benefit of such a move will be noticeable in forthcoming years.
As touched on above, the WRU handed out 12 professional contracts in March 2022, and then a further 17 in July 2022. In March 2023, 25 new full-time contracts were distributed, and the improvement in Wales’ performances since entering professionalism has been strong.
The improvement in Wales’ displays into their second year of pro contracts has been huge
In 2021, Ireland traveled to Wales and beat them 45-0. On the opening weekend of the 2023 championship, Wales were far superior against the same opposition, beating Ireland 31-5. Defensive sequences, lineout drills and scrummaging sets have come on hugely, and with more training time together for the squad, further improvements will come too.
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Ireland were actually Six Nations Grand Slam champions in 2015, World Cup semi-finalists in 2014, and 2013 Six Nations title winners, but their decline has been enormous.
Their performances so far this year read three matches, three defeats. 108 points conceded, 15 scored. 17 tries conceded, two scored. Their only home game has seen them face France, and despite Les Bleus being shown a first half red card, a 14-player France registered a catastrophic 53-3 win vs Ireland in Cork – a record for the fixture.
A 24-7 defeat to Italy in Parma followed – another record loss for the fixture. Ireland next faces England in Cork, and all signs point to a very heavy defeat. In fact, it may well turn into a record loss. They will then face Scotland in an attempt to avoid a first Wooden Spoon since 2004.
Ireland Women have gone from 2015 Grand Slam winners to failing to qualify for the World Cup and battling to avoid the Wooden Spoon
November 2022 saw 29 professional rugby contracts taken up in Ireland, but there continues to be dispute and controversy surrounding the IRFU, women’s rugby and conditions.
Hybrid contracts which would allow women to carry on their careers and play rugby for Ireland have not been offered, while there are fresh claims the squad were denied necessary supplements on a tour to Japan, players were informed they were dropped via email, others were removed off mailing lists, and that the squad were not properly consulted before the move from white shorts to navy blue due to period concerns.
Head coach Greg McWilliams has most recently had to come out and deny the IRFU are sexist.
All of which comes after a period in which shock defeats to Spain and Scotland saw Ireland fail to qualify for the recent World Cup – the first occasion that had ever happened. Women’s rugby in Ireland is on the floor, and can only go up from here.
The most likely side to end England’s spell of overwhelming dominance is France. But to do so, they are going to have to overturn a rotten record vs the Red Roses in recent times.
France have picked up three comfortable victories so far in the 2023 Six Nations
For a battle that was so often hard to call over the years, France have lost 11 tests in a row vs England, and only won one of the last 16 encounters dating back to 2016.
England’s most-recent dramatic 34-31 World Cup final defeat to New Zealand – a side they comfortably dispatched by 31 and 41 points in two victories a year previous – showed that things can change, though.
France, currently ranked third in the world and fully professional since 2019 like England, picked up Six Nations titles in 2018, 2016 and 2014, and are hungry to taste success again. They lost in the World Cup pool stages to England by six points, and lost games in 2021 by just two and four points.
So far this Six Nations, France have beaten Italy 22-12, Ireland 53-3 and, most recently, Scotland 55-0. Recent history may be against them, but a clash at Twickenham with a Grand Slam on the line is a mouth-watering prospect. France will believe, but so will England’s superb Red Roses.
