Women’s Six Nations: What we learned in 2025

As the dust settles on the Guinness Women’s Six Nations 2025, England are once again the team left celebrating amid the ticker tape.

Saturday’s rollercoaster 43-42 victory against France secured a seventh successive championship and fourth Grand Slam in a row.

Yet that does not tell the whole story. For the third time in recent years, Les Bleues left Allianz Stadium, Twickenham wondering what might have been and just as in 2023 they almost pulled off the most stunning of comebacks.

‘This Energy Never Stops’ – Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025

‘This Energy Never Stops’ – Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025

For Ireland, Italy and Scotland, meanwhile, there were high points along the way although for winless Wales it was largely a championship of crushing disappointment.

As attention turns towards this year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup, we run through four things we learned from another enthralling Women’s Six Nations.

More questions than answers for top two

For the best part of an hour of the Grand Slam decider in Twickenham, this was going to be a section solely about how England are their own biggest threat.

Both in the sense that their depth is unrivalled across the globe and that there lurks a danger in their dominance of the Six Nations: complacency.

Those remain true even after the Red Roses hung on for victory in a Grand Slam decider that provided more than a few echoes of the winner-takes-all contest here two years ago.

England built a 31-7 lead in less than 25 minutes at Allianz Stadium on Saturday and looked to be cruising. But that was the signal for a French comeback.

As a Mexican wave spread around the bowl in Twickenham, the home side perhaps took their foot off the gas and let France into the contest. That is all Les Bleues need.

The visitors fed off the vibes, the sudden nerves in the crowd and their own brand of joue to run the Red Roses incredibly close. The finale was both the type of test England wanted – needed – and one completely of their own making.

John Mitchell was pleased with the fact they came through it and will be delighted that several players – Maddie Feaunati and Lucy Packer chief among them – have emerged as genuine first-team players.

But the Red Roses cannot afford to play like they did in the second half in Twickenham in the latter stages of the World Cup.

For France, this is the level they need to hit in every match en route to the World Cup. If they do that then they might just meet England again in a semi-final in Bristol this September.

Six Nations need to get creative

Former Red Roses prop Shaunagh Brown summed it up succinctly this week when she told RugbyPass: “Nobody, including England, wants to see England put 50 points on everybody all of the time.”

Ultimately, the Red Roses did not manage that over the last six weeks, but they came mightily close, scoring 67 points in Wales, 49 in Ireland, 59 against Scotland in Leicester and 43 in Twickenham.

The only time England failed to at least get close to a half century was in round one, when a team picked to test new combinations ‘only’ scored 38 against Italy. But then the Red Roses had been 33-5 up at half-time.

You cannot get away from the fact that England are head and shoulders ahead of their competition in the championship or that France are the only team that can currently get close to them.

It will take years, perhaps decades, for the chasing pack to make sufficient gains when it comes to funding and squad depth, but could organisers do more?

Katy Daley-Mclean raised the possibility of a new format for the competition in her column for The Telegraph this week and there is merit to her argument.

Splitting the championship into two pools of three – who play each other home and away before a finals weekend – would certainly go some way to guaranteeing more competitive and meaningful matches.

You could perhaps go even further and invite Spain back into the fold, although that would be fraught with organisational difficulties.

But what the tournament cannot afford is to stick with the status quo merely because it has worked for the men’s championship for a hundred years and more.

The women’s game is bringing a more vibrant audience to the game. Perhaps it’s time to take a more disruptive stance in the boardroom.

Chasing pack is gaining, slowly

Because beneath the runaway Red Roses, there is a championship to get excited about.

Ireland finished third for a second successive year but their overriding emotion at the end of the 2025 championship will be one of frustration.

Scott Bemand’s side felt, with some justification, that they should have beaten Les Bleues on the opening day in Ulster.

And for 35 minutes in Cork in round three the women in green gave England an almighty test. Perhaps their biggest fright – until Saturday – since the 2022 World Cup final.

Ireland were imperious in away victories against Italy and Wales – matches in which they racked up 14 tries – but injuries ultimately took their toll against Scotland in round five.

That is not to denigrate the nature of Scotland’s win at Hive Stadium on Saturday, delivered in thrilling style by Fran McGhie’s late try.

It has been an up-and-down six weeks for the Scots, with reports of off-pitch unrest surrounding their preparation for the final round. But Bryan Easson’s side were one off-colour performance against Italy away from breaking into the top three.

That victory for the Azzurre was a timely fillip on the back of a painful defeat to Ireland in round two but they have shown real progress in the second half of the championship.

Scotland and Wales were both beaten, the latter by a record margin, while they led France at half-time last weekend. Fabio Roselli has made some difficult decisions in recent weeks, and it looks as though Italy are all the better for it.

Sean Lynn has a huge job on his hands

Transporting club achievements to the international stage was always going to be tough for incoming Wales boss Sean Lynn – especially on a mere six-day turnaround.

But the events of the past six weeks have only served to highlight the size of the job the former Gloucester-Hartpury coach has taken on.

It seems a long time ago now, but there were promising signs in the tight opening weekend defeat to Scotland. But ever since Zoe Harrison converted Maddie Feaunati’s try to bring England level in round two, morale has gone in one direction: down.

The Red Roses won that match 67-12 and heavy defeats to France, Ireland and Italy followed. A second successive wooden spoon the prize for a winless campaign.

Wales made the fewest carries of any team in the championship. They managed a mere 388 in five matches, 58 fewer than Scotland, who along with France (480) were the only other teams not to make at least 500.

Not surprisingly, Lynn’s side also made the least headway with those carries. They finished the Six Nations a distant last in metres made, clean breaks, defenders beaten, offloads. They scored the least points (71) and joint-fewest tries (nine).

In defence, Wales were the only team to ship more than 200 points (217). They also finished with the lowest tackle completion percentage of any team and made the fewest dominant tackles (14) while conceding the most turnovers (16).

The eye test would back up those stats. Wales were insipid against Ireland in the second-half of their 40-14 defeat in Newport in round four and were not much better as they surrendered a half-time lead in Parma on Sunday.

Lynn insisted after the Ireland loss that the job was not bigger than he initially anticipated but his subsequent comments about senior players needing to step up suggest he wanted a reaction.

That did not materialise in Italy, and it would be understandable if the players had been worn down not only by the results on the pitch, but events that have taken place off it over the past two or three years.

Lynn now has just four months – which include a curious pre-World Cup tour of Australia – to create the kind of winning culture that carried his Gloucester-Hartpury side to unprecedented success.

It is an unenviable task.