'It’s going to be a historical game': King anticipating landmark England clash

It is difficult not to be excited by the prospect of Erin King’s return to international rugby in the 2026 Guinness Women’s Six Nations this April.

Last year King was ruled out of the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup with a knee injury sustained against England in last year’s edition of the competition.

All the cartilage had been knocked off the back of her kneecap and, after an operation, was in a knee brace locked in position for 12 weeks.

It was so significant that the 22-year-old was told she may never play again.

Now she has been named Scott Bemand’s captain ahead of the 2026 Guinness Women’s Six Nations and preparing for the biggest edition of the Championships yet.

So far this season the 2024 Olympian has made seven appearances for the Wolfhounds in the Celtic Challenge and has even scored five tries. It is undeniable, exhilarating form. It is also made all the more impressive when you consider her nine month recovery was ahead of schedule.

Ireland will open up their campaign with a trip to Allianz Stadium, where they will play world champion England Red Roses in front of a tournament record crowd.

“We’re all raring to go, really excited,” King told Irish Rugby. “I think we just want the first game to be next week. We’ve just seen that they’ve sold like 60,000 tickets for it.

“It’s so exciting, and I think it’s why we do it. The work that went on in the World Cup (in England) and how inspiring that World Cup was is showing. We’re in camp in a couple of weeks’ time, and all our focus is already on that game.

“With a record Six Nations crowd there, it’s going to be a historical game, and also personally for me, definitely a really special day to captain the team. It will be my first time leading the girls out.

“Selling so many tickets shows the growth of Women’s sport and the growth of Women’s rugby. We’ve so many young players coming through, so much talent coming through, and hopefully (we can) put in a performance and show what we can do.”

Ireland are on the way to setting their own records at this year’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations.

During the Women’s Rugby World Cup, Ireland were one of the most-followed teams at the tournament, with over 50,000 people attending their group stage and quarter-final clashes.

Some of the ‘Green Wave’ will undoubtedly be making their way to the Aviva Stadium for the first standalone women’s rugby fixture at the venue when Scotland visit in Round 5.

Already 14,000 tickets have been sold for the fixture and will see their last year’s Irish record attendance of 7,754  beaten.

King’s return to fitness could prove to be significant for Ireland. The newly-installed skipper had to watch helplessly as her teammates slipped out of the Women’s Rugby World Cup with an 18-13 loss to France in the quarter-final.

Returning to the team alongside Dorothy Wall, who also missed the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup with injury, King wants to take the positives of that campaign and take it into the Guinness Women’s Six Nations.

“The girls did a great job at the World Cup, coming that close to France,” King said. “We’ve shown that we can compete with the best in the world and that we should be in that top four, I think.

“Obviously, England are World champions, and how exciting that we get the opportunity to go out and face the World champions in the opening round of the Six Nations.

“The last time we faced World champions (at the WXV 1 in 2024), the Black Ferns, we beat them. So anything’s possible.

“We took a lot of inspiration from the lads putting in that performance against England at Twickenham. The energy that they came out with is the same probably that we want to come out with.

“Fair play to them, it was a great performance and hopefully we can replicate some of that.”