'It's an amazing time for the sport': Ireland look forward to record-breaking weekend

There is something special in the Dublin air this week.

On Sunday afternoon in Round 5 of the 2026 Guinness Women’s Six Nations, Ireland will host Scotland at the Aviva Stadium for the national team’s first-ever standalone fixture at the venue.

It has been 12 years since Ireland’s women have played a game at the venue altogether. In 2014 their fixture with Italy was the closing act to the men’s fixture against their Italian counterparts.

Astonishingly the current Italy squad, now coached by Fabio Roselli, has four remaining players from that fixture. Ireland have none. In fact Ireland’s current captain, Erin King, was just 10 when that fixture took place.

On Monday it was confirmed by the Irish Rugby Football Union that 28,000 tickets have been sold for the clash. It is a figure that means the previous attendance record for an international women’s rugby fixture in Ireland – which was set in Round 2 when 9,206 fans piled into Dexcom Stadium as Ireland ran out 57-20 winners – will be obliterated.

“Like 25,000 tickets sold already,” Stacey Flood told RTÉ Sport. “And I’d say we expect some more [ahead of the fixture] as well, which is amazing, it’s going to be such a historic game for women’s rugby in Ireland.

“I think it’s shown the path that women’s rugby in general is starting to set, like 77,000 in Twickenham, 19,000 last week in Clermont, the crowd was amazing, Dexcom 9,000 [in Round 2 against Italy].

“We’re getting where the team wants to go and where women’s rugby is going. It’s an amazing time for the sport and I think playing in the home of rugby in Ireland is going to be phenomenal.

“And I think the crowd will really fill the stadium with noise. 25,000. All the crowds have been great so far, and it’s amazing to see the game growing and pushing on to that next level.”

This weekend’s impending record attendance in Dublin will be another of many at this year’s Championship. By Round 3 the overall attendance record for a Women’s Six Nations had been surpassed and in Round 1 the Red Roses set a new tournament attendance record of 77,120 at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, against Ireland.

These bumper crowds have been part and parcel of this Women’s Six Nations. Ireland played in front of nearly 20,000 supporters when they lost to France in Clermont, while England’s clash with Wales at Bristol’s Ashton Gate Stadium was a sell-out.

Still riding the high of a landmark Women’s Rugby World Cup, there is no signs of the good times coming to an end any time soon.

“The game’s come on leaps and bounds,” Erin King told The Irish Sun. “The 2025 World Cup really shone a good light on women’s rugby and showed how capable we are and how good we can be.

“It’s great that we’re finally getting the recognition that we deserve. If we keep putting in performances, hopefully it’ll keep building, especially in Ireland.”

A competitive Dublin encounter

Ireland are looking to lock down third-place in the Women’s Six Nations this Sunday in Dublin against Scotland.

Scott Bemand’s side have had mixed fortunes across their four games as wins against Italy and Wales have been contrasted by losses to England and France. For a team adamant about rising up the World Rugby rankings, it has been a rude awakening.

In their first tournament with Sione Fukofuka as head coach, Scotland have endured a difficult Championship and come into Saturday’s fixture off the back of consecutive defeats to England, Italy and France.

The pair met two times last year. Each team won one and lost one, the winning margin seven points at its largest when Scotland beat Ireland in last year’s Women’s Six Nations finale at Hive Stadium in Edinburgh.

“If you look the last few years, we’ve had very close games with Scotland,” Eve Higgins told BBC Sport.

“We’re both very proud teams, so they become very physical games and we know it’s going to be far from easy. The last two Six Nations, we’ve won one and they’ve won one, so it’s going to be extremely competitive game.

“We want to put in a performance we know we can and hopefully come away with three home wins for the Six Nations.”

Coming to PWR?

In the past week the IRFU have been one of three unions to submit their expression of interest in joining Premiership Women’s Rugby.

Scottish Rugby and the Welsh Rugby Union have also confirmed their interest to help inform the league’s long-term development plans. Currently the three unions run two teams each in the Celtic Challenge, which has helped provide national teams with a number of players.

Sam Monaghan is one of 11 Ireland players that ply their trade across the Irish Sea. A winner of three PWR titles during her time with Gloucester Hartpury, the lock sees great benefit at the prospect of an Irish side joining the competition.

“I think it’s something we’ve always spoken about, us girls that play in the Prem, ‘wouldn’t it be amazing if there was an Irish team where we could all play together?’, because for where I was at in my career, the Premiership was amazing for me,” Monaghan told BBC Sport.

“I built a life over there, I have a house and a job and I’d love to come and play at home, but I don’t think it’s feasible for me, so to have the opportunity to do both would really be amazing and to get our players playing together a lot more would benefit us massively.

“It’s something we spoke about before, but to see it actually come to fruition would be amazing because it’s so competitive.”