Women's Six Nations, 2026, Week 5

Every game this week has questions on the line. Can Wales finally win a game? Will Ireland rue their performance against France and have to settle for third or can Scotland upset them too? Can France finally defeat England?

Wales v Italy

In the first half this match was very much tit-for-tat. Italy would score and Wales would hit back. The difference between them was marginal, in all aspects of the game, Italy edged turnovers, Wales edged territory and set pieces, and thanks to slightly better kicking, the scoreboard 19-17.

Then came the second half. It wasn’t quite one-way traffic, but Italy scored four tries before the Welsh replied. They scored one and were a bit unlucky not to score a second. Brian Moore always says you don’t deserve to score, but seven tries to five feels to me, as a biased Welsh fan, like a fairer reflection of the balance of the match. Italy were markedly better, but not that much better.

Wales seem to have a weird problem. Overall their second halves have been poor. But their last ten minutes have actually been pretty decent. Perhaps it’s just that the game is over and their opponents relax, but they can still play at the end. It’s minutes 40-70 that are a problem, but they really are a problem that Lynn has to fix. Italy have done everything they can to try and finish third.

Ireland v Scotland

I’m not sure if Ireland were pissed off about having so many tries denied or Scotland were still shell shocked, but unlike the back and forth of the earlier game, this was all one way. Ireland had scored their bonus point try by 20 minutes, and slowed down a little, taking until the half hour to score their fifth, including one disallowed, correctly, but on a real technicality by the TMO.

The stats will tell you it was 5 penalties to 2 at half time. That ignores the fact that Scotland were on a warning for too many penalties by 20 minutes - Ireland just ignored a lot of advantages, turning them into points or huge territory gains and never taking the penalties.

The half finished 47-0, and Ireland had 92% of the territory. Honestly I’m surprised Scotland had 8%.

The second half was much more sane. It’s a bit hard from the outside to apportion exactly how much came from column A and how much from column B. However, Ireland definitely took their foot off the pedal somewhat. It might have been all that. I think Scotland also upped their game too, on both sides of the ball. Certainly they actually mounted raids into the Irish 22, which they hadn’t in the first half, although they didn’t manage to score, at least not until the 86th minute. The Irish only managed to score one try as well.

France v England

There are lots of ways to describe rugby, but the first half of this match was about making and taking chances. The French made many more than England, but when the English started making them, they were far more clinical at finishing them.

There were several reasons for this. England were all over the French lineout like they knew the calls. It was a disaster, operating at around 40% instead of around 90%. The French had a lot of handling errors. Some of those came from English defensive pressure, some from the high tempo and offloading game that the French were playing. Doubtless some was a mix of both.

England opened their scoring after 20+ phases grinding it over the try line eventually. But the next English try, a dropped ball, hacked on by Jones and scored by Kildunne, of course, seemed to flip the momentum of the half. England weren’t flamboyant, but ran in two more tries.

The second half started with a penalty to England right in front, but France replied with two tries, one rather ponderous and one gorgeous. The match was really over when England managed to suck the defensive line in close and score out wide. When the referee didn’t award the English a yellow card for repeatedly infringing on their 5m line that sealed the deal. If even Brian Moore agrees they should have been carded you can be pretty sure it’s not just my hatred of them. A few moments later she manufactured a final try for England, a penalty against France that should have been against England, then a lineout inside the 22, and a penalty that was ok. England get a million chances to score and blow it, phase after phase after phase. And she goes back for the advantage?! England finally score. France closed it out with a nice try, but it was another year, another grand slam.

Happy Coaches

1. Mitchell. Much though it pains me, I have to finally put Mitchell and England at the top. Were they perfect? No. But they stood up to insane French pressure for the opening 20 minutes, only yielded one try, then went about their business and calmly took the game away from them. Job done. There’s a parallel world, not that far away, where France were a little luckier, scored three or four tries in that opening onslaught, and ended England’s dominance. But it wasn’t this world. This really is the Bad Place.
2. Bemand. Ireland went out and performed. Arguably better than England. I considered putting Bemand on top in fact, but they were playing for pride, not for second place.
3. Roselli. Of the three winners, Italy were at most risk, behind at half time. He’s certainly the most relieved, but I think his joy at the win is most tempered by that first half.
4. Lynn. Lynn has a problem, yes, wtf goes on in his players’ heads between half time and the 70th minute? But the first 40 and last 10 were good. Wales have had a generally upwards trajectory, and were winning at half time. Disappointed but there are glimmers of joy too.
5. Ratier. There is no doubt this result was a disappointment - to everyone who isn’t English. But France went out and gave it a good go, and were beaten by the best team in the world. If they’d been a little luckier, they might have won. There is doubtless a lot of doom and gloom, but there are lessons to take, things to try.
6. Fukofuka. Scotland failed to show up. Against England, who have leaked tries all season, that was odd this year. Against France, they got a bit lucky. Against Ireland? It was a disaster.

What’s Next?

WXV is next, in September. It has changed formats from previous years (for the worse in my opinion), and they’ve fused what used to be WXV1 and 2 into a bigger completion that contains the W6N, the Pac Four, Japan and SA, but there’s a much more freeform “make your own matches” structure.

France, England and Scotland will face NZ, Australia and Canada. Wales will face SA, USA all at home.

In October, the European teams will go on tour, England will tour NA, playing Canada twice and US once. Scotland will tour Australia, playing them twice. Japan will host Wales for two games. The Black Ferns and Les Bleues will face off for three tests.

There is also a challenger series (which is roughly the old WXV3) between Brazil, Fiji, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Samoa and Spain. The pools aren’t yet announced, but it’s two pools of three, playing each other as before.