Women's Six Nations 2025, Week Four

This should be a weekend of buildup for the big showdown and jockeying for final positions. But the rugby gods are fickle, and several of these matches have wider ramifications, France and Italy face each other again in Pool D of the RWC for example, in August, so there are a lot of subplots.

The Matches

Italy v France

Sometimes clichés exist for a reason. “It was a game of two halves,” may be a cliché, but sometimes it’s just accurate. In the first half we saw 33 points, in the second half only 8 until the last five minutes when the Italians were chasing the game and conceded two soft tries. In the whole first half Italy conceded only two penalties, they’d conceded twice as many in the first ten minutes of the second half, and whilst you wouldn’t say that they were profligate, there was a steady trickle of Italian penalties throughout the half, I think 10 in total. In the first half Italy had a million lineouts (I think it was 16), won them all, routinely took that into a driving maul and, on three occasions when they were close to the try line, used that to score converted tries. In the second half the Italian lineout remained good but their mauls went nowhere. In addition to those three Italian tries there were several (I think four) Italian attempts held up by great French defence. In the second half I think there was one - but it was the only time they got close to scoring.

The final score shows a 34-21 reasonably comfortable victory for France. But at 70 minutes it was 22-21 and anything but comfortable. Le Crunch is going to be the decider, as has become the norm over the last too many years. But this was not comfortable viewing for anyone except an England fan.

England v Scotland

I have been saying, throughout these championship reports, something along the lines of “this was not England at their best.” At some level that is a stance that I still believe, but having looked at most of the combinations play now, whilst I think England have come off their peak, I think the “other four” teams are starting to see the benefits of professionalism in women's rugby come through. England are still on top of the heap, at least in Western Europe. Canada, New Zealand and Australia, at a World Cup, hopefully France too, have the potential to derail their attempts to win it. But, in alphabetical order, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales have got closer to (France and) England, and that’s helping expose the cracks we’re seeing, even in another landslide victory as we’ve seen here.

England ran out 59-7 victors, scoring tries for fun in the first half, taking their feet off the accelerator a bit in the second. But Scotland only scoring one try belies the attacks that they mounted and that England repelled. Two interceptions within five metres of the English try line shows that somewhat better, other attacks were stopped too.

Wales v Ireland

This game was really enjoyable to watch, despite the outcome as a Wales fan. It was a warm, sunny day and both sides seemed intent on playing some fun rugby. There were plenty of good passes, nice kicks and the like, but this was not, generally, defence optional. There were definitely missed tackles, runners in too much space and the like, enough to give defence coaches nightmares if not heart attacks, but there were great tackles, turnovers and penalties as well.

Wales took the lead with the peculiar stat of no time in the opposition 22 but one try. On their first attack they kicked through, the ball took an odd bounce, the Irish defender tried to collect it and got hammered, the ball bounced free over the line and was dotted down for a try. I don’t remember having seen anything like it before, and definitely not as a first entry to the 22. Sadly the next two were scrappier and didn’t produce points so, in the final analysis it won’t stand out so much.

It’s not only the defence coaches who will need medical attention after this game. Both kicking for touch and kick reception was patchy from both sides. There was quite a bit of kick tennis, I think because the kick reception was patchy from both sides, but penalty kicks to touch missed fairly often as well, and the kickers tended to pull their kicks shorter to make sure.

Both sides were pretty profligate with their chances, and both sides made quite a few. Attack coaches will be having nightmares too! However, the Irish scrum, in particular (the lineout less so) was pretty dominant. Wales did get the ball out and win the odd penalty, but the Irish put in to the scrum was a consistent source of penalties and, given the kicking and lineout issues, a less-consistent source of territory and thus chances. All the ball in hand stats were pretty much 2:1 in Ireland’s favour, I didn’t see a territory number but that was probably more like 3:1 in Ireland’s favour. And that was basically the scoreboard too.

Happy Coaches

1. Roselli. Yes, Italy lost, but they were in this all the way, until two late tries when they were playing to win it. They really scared the French and they played good rugby to do that. A win would have been even better, but almost every box ticked.
2. Mitchell. Despite the fact that Scotland opened up England several times, and England took their foot off the pedal for chunks of the second half, England looked better than they have against anyone else. There were fewer meaningful raids by the Scots, and whilst two relied on individual heroics to stamp them out, England never looked troubled.
3. Mignot and Ortiz. Despite me putting Roselli above them, there are positives for the French coaches. Their team responded at half time, changed everything that needed to be changed and although the last few minutes padded the margin of victory, they edged ahead after about 60 minutes and never looked back. However, as a warmup for the match against England, this left a lot to be desired.
4. Bemand. Ireland won, and scored some nice tries, but this was a match where, fun though it was as a fan, every aspect of the game should have been better, so as a coach, not happy.
5. Lynn. Much like Bemand above, but a loss. In the bigger picture there were still signs of Wales improving overall, but this was one of those games on the improvement arc where you have to accept that sometimes it’s little gains.
6. Easson. Other teams, including Wales, who Scotland beat, troubled England more around the park at least, than Scotland did. Various teams also managed to make them work to score, and Scotland really didn’t manage that. We’re seeing the players and teams improving from everyone else, with Scotland it feels more like it’s only some of the players.

Looking Ahead

Final round, which means the big beasts clash, and the minnows do too.

• Italy v Wales. I can see ways for Wales to win this, but Italy at home is going to be a hard challenge. Head says Italy, heart says Wales.
• Scotland v Ireland. Part of me says these sides are closer than we think. But Scotland are coming off a hammering, Ireland off a sloppy but morale-raising win. I can’t see the Scots getting up for this, when the Irish will have so many areas that they need to improve.
• England v France. France have quite an injury list and haven’t quite gelled this year. England have tended to be out of sight by the end of the first half, weaker in the second half, France soft in the first half and take control in the second half. There is a way for England to roar into a lead and then France to come back into it but, sadly, I can’t see England letting this slip through their fingers. I can hope, but I can’t see it.