Women's Six Nations 2025, Week 5

Final places will be determined this weekend but the normal procession of matches on Super Saturday has been disrupted by outside events. Italy were meant to host Wales in Rome but a slightly more important event, the funeral of Pope Francis, was also taking place so the rugby was pushed back 23 hours. The part of me that is an atheist rugby tragic might want to grumble, but the part of me that avidly consumes the news every day thinks that the pope’s funeral is just a bit more important. Anyway, on the reviews.

The Matches

Scotland v Ireland

I wanted to like this game, but for large periods it seemed to promise much and not really deliver.

That’s not to say there wasn’t plenty of effort but it felt like a game where both sides were well matched and, rather than producing an interesting tussle, they largely nullified each other. Even when one side or another crossed the try line, the ball was held up several times.

I can enjoy a good defensive tussle, but this didn’t feel like that (although the stats might suggest otherwise) because a lot of the time it didn’t really feel like a big defensive play stopped the attack, more that forward passes, passes thrown awry or just knocks on caused the attacks to fizzle out. Obviously some of those errors came from defensive pressure but others seemed to be more psychological pressure, the occasion getting to the players.

If you only watch the highlights then you’ll form a very different view I’m sure. There were moments, from both sides, when rugby broke out, passes stuck and tries were stored. In the end Scotland kept it together four times, Ireland only three and that was the difference between them. That said, seven tries can be scored, even with all the build up, takes less than seven minutes. Over 90% of the game was dull.

England v France

England struck early, but France struck straight back and for a few minutes it appeared that this might be a contest. Then France started not only giving up the odd penalty (not an outrageous number but often at critical moments) and their pack was executing their skills at scrum, lineout and maul better than the French, plus the backs were manipulating their opposite numbers so they could create line breaks and then tries almost at will.

France were not impotent. They applied pressure, frequently and well. They managed to drive their own maul, but at least at first, England made their tackles, won their turnovers and held firm.

As the first went along the game shifted. Yes, England went in five tries to three up. Yes, one of the French tries was a fluke, a pass back to the 10, to be cleared, but dropped and Bourdon-Sansus, chasing to block the kick, dropped on the ball to score instead. But, from about 25 minutes everything went left to right, France were in the ascendancy. And in the rest of the championship, France have improved in the second half, England declined.

And that proved to be the case in this game. At one point England led 31-7. At halftime they led 31-21. They finally won 43-42. After that first 20 minutes, when England were almost unstoppable, France out scored England 35-12. They were the only team to earn a try bonus point, a losing bonus point, to score in the last 20 minutes and more against England this year.

They were probably not the only team to prevent England from scoring on several attacks but I’m pretty sure they were the only team to do it regularly and put England under pressure consistently, at least after the first 20 minutes. England only scored 12 points after France woke up. In an hour of rugby!

Now, France blew chances. Some to strong English defence, some to their own strategy of continuous offloading. However, it worked often enough that they also scored six tries and were within a point. Just a little more precision or a little more defensive sharpness at the start of the game and this was there for the taking.

France will, tonight, rue what might have been. They, and everyone else, will look at this and understand how to beat England. Yes, it means playing at their best, but it’s within their reach. France can improve, they did actually during the first half. I’m not sure England can though.

Italy v Wales

This is a match that, in fairness, is very much for the also rans. England and France were always going to battle it out for first and second but, by the time this game was played, Italy could reach fourth with a good enough win, of Wales could push them into last if they could get a good enough win. Very much a battle for pride.

That said, unlike yesterday’s game where nothing was on the line but the sides looked subdued and error-prone, this match was much more like last week's game where Italy played France, both teams turned up to play, at least in the first half. Really for the first time since Lynn took over, Wales mounted extended periods of attractive attacking rugby. They’ve had long periods camped on the opposition line, but this was longer periods with the ball moving from side to side, backs and forwards combined. If there was a spill and a clearance kick, the pressure went straight back on. Italy did the same when they were in charge.

Neither side were perfect at doing this of course, there’s a reason why they’re cellar-dwellers, but they were doing it often enough, and trying it all the time, and it made for an exciting game to match.

In the first half the Welsh defence was slightly less disciplined in their own half, giving up a try to what was less a line break and more a hole that I could have hobbled through. They also gave a penalty that was converted into an easy three points. Unlike the first half French of last week, the Welsh also defended several driving mauls close to the try line. For all the improvements in the Welsh backs, the forwards scored two tries from 5m lineouts, one from a maul and one after a few phases, to head to oranges 12-10 ahead. It being nail-bitingly close feels right.

In the second half it looked to me as if both sides improved. Wales were making fewer errors under stress although not zero. Their attacking efforts were slicker too, although not as successful. And, for all the Welsh improved, the Italians improved more. Much like the French yesterday, their offloads started sticking and their attack flowed better. Part of that was aided by three of the Welsh leading defenders being substituted due to injury, the hooker and number 8 took each other out with a failed HIA and a bleeding head injury that wouldn’t stop, the 12 limped off. All this within about 5 minutes and Italy suddenly ran rampant as the Welsh defence got softer. These things happen in test rugby, good teams overcome them. Rebuilding teams don’t, and Wales are definitely rebuilding.

Italy ran out comfortable victors and secured fourth place ahead of Scotland. Wales finished winless again, but there are signs of improvement. A long way to go but things to build on.

Happy Coaches

1. Mignot and Ortiz. The French played well for 60 minutes and almost won. They could have got over the line with a bit of luck, or playing at home. There are a lot of positives here and little bits to improve on.
2. Mitchell. Yes, England won. Everything should be rosy, right? But they got lucky and were frankly second best for most of the game. There is a lot to worry about after this performance.
3. Roselli. At half time this looked like a banana skin. But the second half performance from Italy, and finishing above Scotland was great for him and his team.
4. Easson. I wanted to put Easson higher, out of his sheer relief. But so much of the game was poor that I think he only has relief, and a lot of things to worry about.
5. Bemand. All the bits I said about Easson having a lot of things to worry about apply here, but no relief of a victory.
6. Lynn. It was close between Bemand and Lynn. Wales have improved over this championship and as a fan I can see the things Lynn wants them to do starting to come together. But there’s a long way to go and this defeat just highlights how big a gap remains.

Closing Thoughts

All these teams are heading to the World Cup in August/September. There will be warm-up games and the like, the same as in the men's game, but that’s the target this year, more than this championship really.

If you had asked me on 1st January I would have said that England were baked on favourites, with France, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and USA fighting it out for the semifinal places. Injuries and more will play a big part in who makes it to the final to lose against England.

Now, in late April, I’m far less confident. The English have to remain favourites at the moment. They’re world number 1, just won their millionth W6N in row, and they've handily beaten everyone else in the last year or two. However, in every game, even against Wales and Scotland who finished fifth and sixth, the Red Roses had moments of vulnerability, times when they were under pressure. If you look at the Welsh men against the South Africans (also number 1 in the world, but in the men's game) last November, they never looked like they were applying pressure, just slowing down the procession. That was an improvement on the week before when they didn’t even manage to look like roadblocks, but not good.

Back to the women and, on a different day, France would have won that final match. One extra chance converted, waking up two minutes earlier and stopping one try, and it’s a whole different story. England and France still seem to be bolted on for semifinal places, but they could both loose, unless the draw pits them against each other.

Ireland looked great in WXV1 last year. Was that, like the men, peaking too soon? They didn’t look up to the same standard in this competition, not only against England and France, but against Scotland. They bullied Italy and Wales, but that’s not good enough. They can improve but a quarterfinal exit is seeming more likely now.

Scotland, Wales and Italy will be hoping to get out of the pools. Looking at the draw I imagine Italy are in a good place but Canada, Scotland and Wales are in the same pool and, barring miracles, that’s going to be Canada plus one. The 6N clash was close and Wales have improved so who knows.

This competition looked like it should have been England crossing the T's and dotting the I's, France and Ireland battling it out to determine second and third place, and juggling for the also ran places. Instead England look like they’ve come back to the pack, France are getting it right, and Ireland have fallen back too. Italy are not quite there in every game, but can perform on their day and could cause problems in September.

Fun times await!