The England captain, Zoe Aldcroft, lifting the Women’s Six Nations trophy after defeating France to claim the Red Roses’ seventh successive title is the image everyone is expecting to see when the tournament concludes. England’s domination in the tournament stems from the introduction of professional contracts in 2019, since then they have not lost a game in the Six Nations and victory over Italy in their tournament opener on Sunday would bring a 30th consecutive win in the competition.
England are favourites for another clean sweep, but would a loss actually benefit the Red Roses in the long run, particularly with a home Rugby World Cup happening later this year? In their past 51 games, their only defeat came in the World Cup final against New Zealand in 2022. Some believe losing could offer invaluable lessons should they come under pressure again.
Before England last won the Rugby World Cup in 2014, the team lost a 2013 Test series against New Zealand and then were beaten by France during the 2014 Six Nations. “Those were huge moments,” Katy Daley-Mclean, who captained England to World Cup glory, said on The Good, The Scaz & The Rugby podcast. “When we lost to France, everyone knew it was happening but it was like you were under water. No one had any language to solve the problems. It was helpful for when we got squeezed a little by Canada in that 2014 final, we had language. We built communication streams, we built a leadership group that was resilient and knew what to do.”
Nonetheless, there are no guarantees – England lost to New Zealand less than a year before the 2017 World Cup final when they were beaten by the Black Ferns again.
England’s versatile back Claudia MacDonald, who returns to the squad after a neck injury, is not convinced they need to lose in this Six Nations to progress. “I have heard the desire for England to lose,” she says. “I think it is all about challenges, losing is a potential challenge but I think there are also so many other challenges that we can be and are continually faced with. Whether that is being under pressure under your sticks, conceding the first try, going a player down.
“There are so many ways we can be challenged with what happens on the pitch that I don’t think it necessarily means we have to lose a game. It is about trying to learn and how we respond and how we tweak that response to be even better the next time.
“Someone also has to lose training every week, so it’s not like we aren’t losing. We are certainly losing to each other each week in training. I don’t think there is a lack of opportunities to learn and develop without losing a game.”
If England are to lose a fixture during the upcoming tournament, it will probably come at the hands of either Ireland or France. England v France is typically the grand slam decider but France’s form has been shaky while Ireland have proved they can cause an upset.
Ireland may have capitulated to the Red Roses last year in an 88-10 defeat but since then they have been in great form and they take on France at home on Saturday in the opening match of the 2025 women’s Six Nations. They finished third in the 2024 tournament and then caused a huge shock by beating world champions New Zealand at WXV 1.
The Ireland head coach, Scott Bemand, says: “You can get a little bit carried away sometimes but we are going to stay grounded. We know exactly where we are, we know exactly where we want to go.
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“It’ll be harder for us this year than last year’s Six Nations because to some degree we were a little bit under the radar. People are now taking us a little bit more seriously. You lose the anonymity and now we have to do it with people seeing us as a bit of a threat. That is a class opportunity, especially with the Rugby World Cup on the horizon. To become a contender, we need to perform in big games.”
The team being slightly overlooked is Scotland because of slow progression but they do have the benefit of having the longest serving current coach in the Women’s Six Nations in Bryan Easson, who took charge in 2020. Italy and Wales are in the opposite position and will be hoping for a new head coach bounce. The Azzurri have brought in Fabio Roselli, while former Gloucester-Hartpury coach Sean Lynn is now in charge of Wales, who travel to Scotland on Saturday in their first match of the tournament.
The teams will have to contend with new laws in the tournament, which follows the men’s competition. These include 20-minute red cards and players having 60 seconds to kick conversions and 30 seconds to form scrums and lineouts. Attendance records are also set to be broken with the world record crowd on the cards at Twickenham when England play France in the final game.
It feels as though this could be a gamechanging year for the sport, ending with a groundbreaking Rugby World Cup.
