Tumbling records, rising stars, and lasting memories: the 2023 Women’s Six Nations
That’s it, then. The 2023 Women’s Six Nations. Done. Fin. End scene. A wrap.
Numerically? Mega. The fans engaged, shared, discussed, adored, attended, purchased, cheered, oohed, aahed, and were hooked in their droves. The media captured, platformed, debated, scrutinised, and amplified it like never before. The players prepared, emerged, fronted up, hustled, hit, sweated, bled, roared, celebrated, signed, selfied, trailblazed, and shone at the heart of it all. More of everything, and better than ever. Women’s rugby is on a trajectory so steep you’d crook your neck if you stared at it for too long – not that you’d mind.
Narratively? A work in progress. The trophy was only ever going to be lifted by one of two nations, and I’d have bet a good sum of money on the winner of ten of the 15 fixtures. That’s not enough jeopardy, by any means. Many of us were on tenterhooks for Scotland against Wales and Italy, and towards the end of Le Crunch, but that’s probably it – whereas what you really want from a tournament is to be on the edge of your seat more often than not: as precariously perched as Alex Callender’s nearly entirely pointless scrunchies – engrossed in a battle as unpredictable as Beatrice Rigoni in space.
Following Brian Easson’s Scots was compelling, mind – as was watching a fresh-faced, Holly Aitchison-orchestrated Red Roses take shape, and relishing the way Wales navigated that infamously difficult second professionalised album.
Athletically? Barnstorming. We saw some scintillating rugby, including – but in no way limited to – the following. Chloe Rollie running lines which wouldn’t look out of place on a devilishly tricky Mario Kart course.
Mélissande Llorens announcing herself as one of the hottest young talents in the game. Fran McGhie standing up, stepping five people, and shouting “me too!” Gaëlle Hermet playing with a mesmeric combination of class and fury at every opportunity. Hannah Botterman’s turnover celebrations. Enough said. Hannah Jones, Tatyana Heard, and Gabrielle Vernier proving that there are at least three different ways to be a world class inside centre. Romane Ménager playing just 143 minutes, but – bang for your buck – perhaps proving the most influential player of the tournament. Sarah Bern conjuring up moments so good that all you could do was shriek in real time at her virtuosity, and then chortle at the replays. Abby Dow generating the sort of power and velocity that only a qualified engineer (aka Abby Dow) could actually comprehend, and Sisilia Tuipulotu proving that anything can be tackled or flattened, if you really put your mind to it. An abundance of riches.
Emotionally? A rollercoaster. The stall was set out with Sarah Hunter’s retirement: goosebumps nothing to do with the crisp Northern air at a packed-out Kingston Park. It didn’t let up as a tearful Nichola Fryday spoke with striking composure after Ireland’s thumping by a 14-woman France. We all felt Wales’ turmoil in Cardiff, as all of that momentum thudded into the immovable object that is England, and even the buzz of a sun-drenched record crowd couldn’t soften the blow of that stark reminder of ‘the gap’. Just a few hours later, the scenes were of ecstasy, as Alyssa D’Inca was mobbed in Parma: the prodigious, scything, winger at the heart of a crucial victory. The bizarre realisation in Round Four that the team who had scored nothing were happier than those who’d notched 48 – as the Red Rose misfired against a courageous Ireland. The ugly tears, Kim Kardashian-style, as Scotland fought tooth and nail for their first win in thirteen matches. The flutters of anticipation as, the next day, France put out an opening forty which suggested that we’d have a grand slam decider for the ages. The little sort of advent calendar we had throughout, building towards Twickenham. Only, rather than the date creeping up, it was ticket sales – cruising past last year’s tallies, brushing aside pre-tournament rumours, decimating the world record, and smashing through all expectations so loudly you could hardly hear the Sugababes.
It really was a Super Saturday – wall-to-wall with wonder women. The scenes at HQ. The ferocity of the Roses. The arrival, albeit 40 minutes late, of a French side who had come to properly jouez jouez. A trophy lift before overflowing stands: a giddying peek through the curtains of time towards 2025…
Wales then nailed a statement win to make it back-to-back bronzes, with some of their brightest stars crossing the whitewash, before Scotland made sure they hadn’t just snapped a losing streak, but started a winning one – and their scorers couldn’t have been much more poetic, either. Workhorses Lana Skeldon and Leah Bartlett, perennial winner of ‘Six Nations skipper I’d run through brick walls for’ Rachel Malcolm, the sensational Rollie and equally mercurial Meryl Smith, and ballerina-turned-scimitar McGhie. Premier 15s sides will be falling over themselves to snap up those last two: they’re serious talents.
This brings me nicely onto what’s next. If you liked what you saw, and are despondently taking down the purple bunting in your living room whilst contemplating a lengthy spell without women’s rugby –do not fret. The Premier 15s – where the very best in England, Wales, and Scotland ply their trade (along with a smattering of Irish, French, and Italian powerhouses) – resumes next weekend, and is brilliant. It’s just like the Six Nations – but with more teams, more jeopardy, and an offloading, scrummaging torpedo we call Hope Rogers. Next Sunday, you can catch two games live on BBC channels: Saracens versus Exeter, and Loughborough Lightning versus Gloucester-Hartpury. Both will be excellent, so mark your cards.
This was the Six Nations which started with a purple ball pit, and which ended with a toy dinosaur in a trophy. Along the way, Ireland proved that heart and talent alone aren’t enough at this level, Wales that those – plus support and funding – can transform a national team, and England that there’s an abundance of roses blooming – even as one of the greatest of them all steps aside. This might have been the last dance of Sarah Hunter – and of Sara Barattin and Jessy Trémoulière – but there’s so much more to come from this tournament, on and off the pitch. As Simon Middleton said on Saturday – ‘this has to be the benchmark.’ Onwards and upwards, then – the only way women’s rugby seems to know right now.
Comments on RugbyPass
This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?
34 Go to commentsWow, didn’t realise there was such apathy to URC in SA, or by Champions Cup teams. Just read Nick’s article on Crusaders, are Sharks a similar circumstance? I think SA rugby has been far more balanced than NZs, no?
2 Go to commentsBut here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.
15 Go to commentsIt could be coincidental or prescient that the All Blacks most dominant period under Steve Hansen was when the Crusaders had their least successful period under Todd Blackadder and then the positions reversed when Razor took over the Crusaders.
15 Go to commentsDefinitely sound read everybodyexpects immediate results these days, I don't think any team would travel well at all having lost three of the most important game changers in the game,compiled with the massive injury list they are now carrying, good to see a different more in depth perspective of a coaches history.
3 Go to commentsSinckler is a really big loss for English rugby.
1 Go to commentsThanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause
15 Go to commentsNo way. If you are trying to picture New Zealand rugby with an All Blacks mindset, there have been two factors instrumental to the decline of NZ rugby to date. Those are the horror that the Blues have become and, probably more so, the fixture that the Crusaders became. I don’t think it was healthy to have one team so dominant for so long, both for lack of proper representation of players from outside that environment and on the over reliance on players from within it. If you are another international side, like Ireland for example, sure. You can copy paste something succinct from one level to the next and experience a huge increase in standards, but ultimately you will not be maximizing it, which is what you need to perform to the level the ABs do. Added to that is the apathy that develops in the whole game as a result of one sides dominance. NZ, Super, and Championship rugby should all experience a boom as a result of things balancing out. That said, there is a lot of bad news happening in NZ rugby recently, and I’m not sure the game can be handled well enough here to postpone the always-there feeling of inevitable decline of rugby.
15 Go to commentsNo SA supporter miss Super Rugby - a product that is experiencing significant head wind in ANZ - the competition from rival codes are intense, match attendance figures are at a historical low and the negativity of commentators such as Kirwan and Wilson have accelerated the downward spiral in NZ. After the next RWC in 2027 sponsors will follow Qantas and start leaving in droves.
2 Go to commentsLike others, I am not seeing the connection between this edition of the Crusaders and the All Blacks future prospects under Razor. I think the analysis of the Crusaders attack recently is helpful because Razor and his coaching team used to be able to slot new guys in to their systems and see them succeed. Several of Razor’s coaches are still there so it would be surprising if the current attack and set piece has been overhauled to a great extent - but based on that analysis, it may have been. Whether it is too many new guys due to injuries or retirement or a failure of current Crusaders systems is the main question to be answered imo. It doesn’t seem relevant for the ABs.
15 Go to commentsharry potter is set in stone. he creates stability and finishes well. exactly what schmidt likes. he’s the ben smith of australian rugby. i think it could quite easily be potter toole and kellaway for the foreseeable future.
5 Go to commentsThis is short sighted from Clayton if you ask me, smacks of too much preseason planning and no adaptability. What if DMac is out for a must win match, are they still only going to bring their best first five and playmaker on late in the game? Trusting the game to someone who wasn’t even part of planning (they would have had Trask pinned in as Jacomb preseason). Perhaps if the Crusaders were better they would not have done this, but either way imo you take this opportunity to play a guy you might need starting in a final rather than having their 12th game getting comfortable coming off the bench.
1 Go to commentsThanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.
21 Go to commentsWhat a load of bollocks. The author has forgotten to mention the fact that the Crusaders have a huge injury toll with top world class players out. Not to mention the fact that they are obviously in a transition period. No this will not spark a slow death for NZ rugby, but it does mean there will be a new Super Rugby champion. Anyone who knows anything about NZ rugby knows that there is some serious talent here, it just isn’t all at the Crusaders.
15 Go to commentsI wouldn’t spend the time on Nawaqanitawase! No point in having him filling in a jersey when he’s committed to leave Union. Give the jersey to a young prospect who will be here in the future.
5 Go to commentsIt was a pleasure to watch those guys playing with such confidence. That trio can all be infuriating for different reasons and I can see why Jones might have decided against them. No way to justify leaving Ikitau out though. Jorgensen and him were both scheduled to return at the same time. Only one of them plays for Randwick and has a dad who is great mates with the national coach though.
53 Go to commentsBrayden Iose and Peter Lakai are very exciting Super Rugby players but are too short and too light to ever be a Test 8 vs South Africa, France, Ireland, and England, Lakai could potentially be a Test player at 7 if he is allowed to focus on 7 for Hurricanes.
7 Go to commentsPencils “Thomas du Toit” into possible 2027 Bok squad.
1 Go to commentsDon’t see why Harrison makes the bench. Jones can play at 10 if needed, and there is a good case for starting her there to begin with if testing combinations. That would leave room for Sing on the bench
1 Go to commentsWhat a load of old bull!
1 Go to comments