Six questions we want answered this Women's Six Nations

They say that growth isn’t always linear.

Sometimes its trajectory is smooth, but it’s just as partial to a stall or a rocket. Sometimes the line meandering between axes X and Y loses its way a little, like the trail of a particularly whimsical snail on a window pane.

In some scenarios, a backwards step is essential for future progression. See: pruning flowers, rest days, and learning the hard way that more than three champagnes pre-meal at a wedding is daft.

Occasionally, continued growth requires a clean slate. The hitting of ‘reset’. A holistic sorbet. A real-life Ctrl+Alt+Delete.

Because – although we’ve, quite rightly, spent the last six months talking about riding the wave of last summer’s record-shattering, for-the-ages World Cup – 2026, in women’s rugby, is a bit of a ground zero: the start of a new cycle, an opportunity for experimentation, and – with that – a leap into the unknown.

There is so much newness to be savoured, across all six nations – and an absolute tonne to be learned.

So, without further ado, here are just a few of the questions we’re most excited to have answered at this year’s Women’s Six Nations Championships.

Is this thing no longer a two-horse race?

You only have to look at the montage image above to see that England have dominated this tournament for almost a decade. As much as we get a handful of heart-in-mouth fixtures per annum, this tournament is severely lacking in jeopardy at its summit. It’s the Red Roses’ to lose, but – this year – the jostling behind and around them ought to intensify.

Scott Bemand’s Ireland women have to travel to Clermont for their Les Bleues revenge mission, but have every right to believe they can take that scalp – and will feel that Wales, Scotland, and Italy at home are non-negotiables these days.

Lest we forget: this young group were five points, and a fluffed 84th minute attacking line out from bashing the French aside, and striding into a global semi-final – and they have the world-class Erin King, Dorothy Wall, and Aoife Wafer back fully fit for this tilt.

England at Twickenham is a step too far for 2026 – but, if they can conquer the Marcel Michelin, we might just have three teams in contention, come Super Sunday – and that’d be sensational.

Fixture

Womens Six Nations

England Women

06:25

11 Apr 26

Ireland Women

All Stats and Data

How will England’s tight five evolve?

Lark Atkin-Davies, Abbie Ward, Zoe Stratford and Rosie Galligan are expecting. Magical, wonderful news – which simultaneously robs the Red Rose of its hooker, line-out caller, captain, and an engine room stalwart. Meanwhile, Hannah Botterman hasn’t played yet in 2026, and we’ve not seen McKenzie Carson since the World Cup quarter-final.

The next few weeks are huge for Kelsey Clifford (24 years old: 21 caps), Lilli Ives Campion (22 years old: 5 caps), and Morwenna Talling (23 years old: 28 caps): intelligent and classy operators, but unfamiliar with leadership at this level. Connie Powell and Lizzie Hanlon, who missed out on last summer entirely, will be well aware of what an opportunity this presents for them, too.

John Mitchell talks a lot about expressive rugby at the moment, and the world number ones ‘taking the handbrake off’, but you’re not going anywhere without the chassis of set piece and engine of front foot ball – so all eyes on how these high horsepower individuals get on.

 

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Where are Scotland at?

To say it’s been an eventful last 12 months for Scotland would be like saying Louis Bielle-Biarrey is no slouch.

We don’t need to go over it all again here, but that group reaching World Cup knockouts for the first time in 23 years – despite the SRU’s ‘emotionally damaging’ handling of their programme, contracts, and selves – was extraordinary, and we’re about to see the lasting impact of that turmoil.

Bryan Easson, Matt Banahan, Fraser Brown, Ross Miller, Tyrone Holmes, and Steve Shingler have all donned thistled tracksuits in recent times – but it’ll be Sione Fukofuka, Dave Butcher, and Ioan Cunningham at the helm as this new cycle gets up and running.

The squad itself will look very different. Jade Konkel, Caity Mattinson, Jenny Maxwell, Christine Beliesle, and Beth Blackcock have all retired – whilst Evie Gallagher, Sarah Bonar, Lisa Thomson, and Anne Young are injured – and Fran McGhie’s not torched a touchline since November.

However much of a boost Meryl ‘how’d she do that?’ Smith’s return is to their midfield – that’s a daunting list of absentees, and Rachel Malcolm’s troops have precious little time to adapt to an overhauled coaching ticket – given their opener is at the Principality, against their fiercest rivals in Wales.

What on earth is coming across the Channel?

If Scotland are a conundrum, then France are an enigma ensconced in Rubik’s cube wrapping paper.

The nation who coined and embody the expression ‘je ne sais quoi’ have a new head coach, a squad bristling with Élite Un finalists but without the Menagers or Agathe Gerin, and no silverware since 2018.

We know that the Feleu-Fall Raclot engine room will fight like tigers, Joanna Grisez will thrill, Morgane Bourgeois will kick her goals when the pressure is at its mightiest, and that some of their rugby will have us off our sofas, but – as an intriguing whole – this tournament’s great perplexers remain exactly that.

What can Sean Lynn do with his own coaching ticket and squad?

Rumour has it that Mo Hunt was still splashing about the StoneX hot tub when Sean Lynn swapped his cherry and white shorts for WRU ones, and got to work with the wooden spoon-holders. He had but days before they were grappling with thistles in Edinburgh – parachuting his Gloucester-Hartpury successor, Dan Murphy, in as defence coach, whilst looking to mould all he’d inherited into a force which might just prise itself from the bottom of the table.

It wasn’t to be. A historic nil from five, before a baffling and ill-fated trip to Australia, and then the sound of rueful chalk scrapes as Wales added yet more tallies to the ‘defeats’ column on their way out the side door.

No outfit in this tournament wants a palate cleanse, the brusque snap of rubber gloves, or the jet washer turned up to ‘max’ – more than the Welsh.

Drawing on what Steve Tandy has done with the men, Lynn has talked about ‘fresh faces and voices’, of in-house competition, and about loads and loads of ‘hard work’. It’s compelling, and the team he’s assembled feel perfectly-placed to infuse the players with that hustle: Tyrone Holmes, Ashley Beck, and Steve Salvin.

Alex Callender and Nel Metcalfe will be sorely missed, but we might finally see Lynn’s regime take a stride forward, and get a sense of all Wales can bring to the table for the next four years.

Fixture

Womens Six Nations

Wales Women

08:40

11 Apr 26

Scotland Women

All Stats and Data

Just how many will flock through the turnstiles?

70,000, and counting, fancy the Red Roses in West London. The champions’ trip to Murrayfield will be the largest crowd ever seen at a standalone women’s sporting event in Scotland – and those limited edition ‘Making Moves’ tartan shirts sold out in the time it took this foolish writer to make a cuppa.

Warriors in emerald will tread Aviva turf for the first time in over a decade – if you ask her nicely, Wafer will show you a fabulous photograph of her, baby-faced, in the stands back in 2014 – and you just know the baguette-wielding, beret-sporting masses will be as incroyable as ever. The FFR have thrown down a gauntlet by booking not the Chaban Delmas in Bordeaux – but the Matmut Atlantique, which is the biggest stadium in history to host Les Bleues at home.

Ultimately: there’s so much we can only guess at, and that’s the fun part. Sport is about jeopardy and collective journeys of discovery, after all.

That said – there’s one thing we *do* know, so let’s end with something certain.

You want to be a part of this: as passionately, geekily, and tangibly as possible. Buy the tees, listen to the pods, debate the selections voraciously, and go to the games. Go to the games! Growth isn’t always linear, but it’s the beating heart of women’s sport – and you can play a part in that.

You’ve spent five minutes reading a series of puzzlings: now go secure yourself a guaranteed good time.

Lovely stuff. See you there.