In the history of the six-team women’s Six Nations, only once has a team other than England or France won the title, and that was in 2013 when Ireland broke the double.
England have won the last five tournaments but this year will be their first Six Nations tournament under new coach John Mitchell. The Red Roses, who are the favorites to lift the cup, are hoping to attract a record crowd when they face Ireland at Twickenham in the fourth round.
John Mitchell will have to change his back row against Wales tomorrow as Sarah Beckett is suspended for three weeks following her red card against Italy.
Scroll down to read five things you need to know about this year’s tournament. You can also read our team-by-team competition guide, including Sarah Bern’s verdict and predictions on each member of the England women’s team.
How to watch the 2024 Women’s Six Nations on TV?
This year’s fixtures will continue to be shown on the BBC. Every match of the tournament will be broadcast live on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport online, with the majority broadcast on BBC television. Six of the games are shown on BBC One or BBC Two; see below for details.
The BBC’s presenting team is led by Gabby Logan, Sonja McLaughlan and Lee McKenzie.
2024 Women’s Six Nations fixtures
first round
Saturday, March 23: France 38 Ireland 17 (Stade Marie-Marvingt)
Saturday, March 23: Wales 18 Scotland 20 (Cardiff Arms Park)
Sunday, March 24: Italy 0 England 48 (Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi)
second part
Saturday, March 30: Scotland – France (14.15, Hive Stadium) – BBC Scotland
Saturday, March 30: England – Wales (16.45, Ashton Gate) – BBC Two
Sunday, March 31: Ireland v Italy (15:00, RDS Arena) – BBC iPlayer
third round
Saturday, April 13: Scotland v England (14.15, Hive Stadium) – BBC One
Saturday, April 13: Ireland v Wales (16.45, Virgin Media Park) – BBC iPlayer
Sunday, April 14: France – Italy (12.30, Stade Jean Bouin) – BBC iPlayer
fourth round
Saturday, April 20: England v Ireland (14.15, Twickenham) – BBC One
Saturday, April 20: Italy – Scotland (16.45, Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi) – BBC Scotland
Sunday, April 21: Wales – France (15.15, Cardiff Arms Park) – BBC Wales
fifth round
Saturday, April 27: Wales v Italy (12.15pm, Principality Stadium) – BBC Wales
Saturday, April 27: Ireland v Scotland (14.30, Kingspan Stadium) – BBC NI
Saturday, April 27: France – England (16.45, Stade Chaban-Delmas) – BBC Two
2024 Women’s Six Nations table
How can I buy tickets to matches?
Tickets are still widely available. See each team’s websites for details. For example, England tickets can be purchased through EnglandRugby.com.
Five things you need to know about the Six Nations of Women
Why is the table important?
The women’s Six Nations has become synonymous with a lack of danger in recent years due to the dominance of England and France, but final placings still carry some significance.
The best-placed team outside England and France will qualify for next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup. These two teams have already secured their place in the tournament to be held in England after reaching the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup and will be the favorites to finish in the top two in the championship this year. This puts extra emphasis on finishing third, perhaps even finishing the duo at the top of the standings.
As well as the World Cup rankings, the final standings in the table will also determine which tier the women compete in the WXV, the global competition launched by World Rugby last year to increase Test fixtures in the women’s game. year. This tournament will be the next stage of World Cup qualification, so the higher you finish in the rankings, the easier the path to England 2025 will be.
Names on shirts
As in the men’s championship, the names of the female players will be on the back of the match jerseys. This is a first for Ireland, Scotland, France and Italy. Last year, Wales and England players had their names written on their jerseys, becoming the first national team to do so in women’s competitions.
Six Nations chief executive Tom Harrison said it was “actually much easier to achieve this in the women’s game than in the men’s”. He added: “We are seeing real enthusiasm. [in the women’s game] To address some of the questions we asked. Does this work? Can we try this? “We found the women’s game really exciting in terms of some of the things that were going on.”
new innovations
For the first time in a women’s rugby match, the televised match official bunker system is a feature that gives referees the option of sending incidents of foul play off the field for review where a potential red card is not obvious and obvious. The player will be shown a yellow card and the “Foul Play Review Officer” (the dugout) will review the footage during this 10-minute transgression period to decide whether this should be escalated to a red card.
There will also be a shot clock that gives players 60 seconds to take a penalty and 90 seconds to convert, and instrumented mouth guards that measure blows to the head and can alert medical personnel to whether a player may need a head injury. evaluation.
Individual fixtures at main stadium
Following the success of last April’s Grand Slam match at Twickenham, where England and France were watched by a record-breaking 58,498 spectators, the Red Roses will return to the home of English rugby to face Ireland on April 20. This fixture forms part of the RFU’s long-term plan to sell Twickenham for the 2025 World Cup final and will be another landmark event.
It’s not just England playing in its own national stadium. Wales will face Italy on the final weekend and will also play their first independent women’s match at the Principality Stadium as the Welsh Rugby Union looks to grow the fan base of its women’s team.
Tickets are also reasonably priced: £20 for adults and £5 for juniors at Twickenham; Prices start from £10 for adults and £5 for juniors at the Principality Stadium.
New faces at the helm
You may have already seen this odd photo of seven coaches (France have assistant coaches in Gaelle Mignot and David Ortiz) at the official Women’s Six Nations launch in London, featuring England’s new head coaches John Mitchell and Scott Bemand. and Ireland respectively.
Former New Zealand head coach Mitchell, who was appointed by the Rugby Football Union last May and took on a more informal role in last year’s WXV competition, takes charge of the Red Roses in the championship for the first time. Bemand has featured in various Six Nations campaigns in his former role as the Red Roses’ centre-backs coach, but this will be the first time the Englishman has led a nation.