Three key Guinness Women's Six Nations questions ahead of Super Sunday

The stage is set. Everyone knows their places. All that is left to do is for Round 5 of the 2026 Guinness Women’s Six Nations to get underway and for a champion to be crowned.

It will start at lunchtime when Wales host Italy at Cardiff Arms Park. Then Scotland go to Dublin to play Ireland in front of 30,000 supporters at Aviva Stadium.

Then, just to cap things off, world champion Red Roses go to Bordeaux to take on France in a Women’s Six Nations Grand Slam decider.

Here are the three main questions ahead of the 2026 Women’s Six Nations’ Super Sunday…

Can Wales avoid a third successive wooden spoon?

Just so much as Italy will be looking for a win at Sunday lunchtime, Wales will be hoping that a bonus point win and an Ireland win against Scotland in Dublin can help them avoid the wooden spoon. Again.

To not put too fine a point on it, Wales’ recent history has been dismal. When a quarter-final exit at the 2021 Rugby World Cup could have been the start of a great surge, instead off-pitch issues and poor performances meant that the team unravelled in every sense.

Installed ahead of the last Women’s Six Nations, head coach Sean Lynn had a big task on his hands. His arrival ahead of last year’s Championship was too short. He started the job two days after he led Gloucester Hartpury to a third successive Premiership Women’s Rugby title.

Coming into this year’s Championship the memory of Wales’ Women’s Rugby World Cup exit at the group stages with a loss to Fiji was close to hand. Even so the camp was happy. They felt that good things were around the corner.

Losses to Scotland, France, England and Ireland do not seem to have dented Welsh pride. At Ashton Gate Stadium the side registered their most-ever points against the Red Roses. In Belfast their 33-12 loss was described as a “backwards step” by Keira Bevan.

“It did feel like a backwards step, but we have to be positive,” the scrum-half said. “We have to learn quickly and learn on the hoof as well. We have to try and fix problems in the game rather than wait until a Monday morning.”

Wales’ only objective this weekend will be winning. To give themselves the best chance of finishing fifth. Like with anything there’s a few ifs, buts and maybes. But it is the only thing on the agenda.

Will Ireland live up to Aviva Stadium occasion?

Ireland will play their first-ever standalone fixture at the Aviva Stadium this weekend against Scotland. Already over 30,000 tickets have been sold for the clash.

That attendance will obliterate the 9,206 record attendance set in Round 2 when Italy came to Galway’s Dexcom Stadium. It will be a very memorable occasion for women’s rugby in Ireland, but Scott Bemand’s team must live up to the occasion on Sunday afternoon.

Womens Six Nations

P

W

L

D

PF

PA

PD

BP T

BP-7

BP

Total

1

England Women

0

0

0

0

0

2

France Women

0

0

0

0

0

3

Ireland Women

0

0

0

0

0

4

Italy Women

0

0

0

0

0

5

Scotland Women

0

0

0

0

0

6

Wales Women

0

0

0

0

0

It was only three years ago that Ireland picked up the wooden spoon at the conclusion of a dismal campaign. Under Bemand the side have a clear objective to climb the world rankings, as well as to contend at the Women’s Six Nations and Women’s Rugby World Cup in the near future.

To keep the wheels of those objectives rolling Ireland must win matches. Matches do not come much bigger than 30,000 baying home supporters.

“This is what they’ve been working towards over the last couple of years and pleasing to see the numbers that are in now for Sunday,” Denis Fogarty, Ireland scrum coach, said. “It’s exactly what the girls deserve, so it’s all about making sure we put a performance out there.

“You’ve got to enjoy this occasion as this is what we’ve been looking towards, playing in front of a crowd like that at the Aviva in a standalone game, but we have talked about the performance and that’s what matters to us.”

This weekend’s opponents, Scotland, know exactly what it is like to falter in front of a big home crowd. Against England in Round 2, Sione Fukofuka’s team hosted 30,498 supporters at Scottish Gas Murrayfield.

After one Emily Coubrough carry in the opening minute as adrenaline levels spiked, the hosts fell away almost entirely and the Red Roses won 84-7. Ireland will not want to suffer the same fate.

Could England’s defence be their downfall?

With one game to go England have already conceded more points than ever before in a Women’s Six Nations. It has been the Red Roses’ worst defensive performance at a Championship ever.

In bonus point wins against Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy, John Mitchell’s team have let in 76 points. Yes, that number pales in comparison to Scotland’s 213, but it has shown that the Women’s Rugby World Cup champions are vulnerable.

Something that France, no doubt, are licking their lips at ahead of this weekend’s Round 5 Grand Slam decider in Bordeaux. François Ratier’s team could end England’s seven year run as Women’s Six Nations champions.

The reasons for England’s defensive lapses can be explained in a variety of ways. They have four senior forwards away with pregnancies. That, combined with injuries to more senior players, have meant the squads have been chopped and changed from round to round. Consistency has been hard to come by.

“We have conceded more points than probably we wanted to,” England forward Abi Burton said this week.

“We just need to tighten up those little leaky holes that we had against Italy. We know that France are going to come at us in any which way, shape and form.

“Naturally when there is change, there will be more knowledge in some places than the others, so it about bringing everyone up to speed.”

What the Red Roses have been able to rely on is their attack. Just as they always have. No one has scored more tries [36] or points [240] at this year’s Championship.

Plus, for this Sunday’s Stade Atlantique clash, England can be buoyed by the returns of Maddie Feaunati, Sadia Kabeya and Lilli Ives Campion from injury.

So far as Les Bleues are concerned, there is a chance. They have branded the game as a final. All that is left now is to play it.