The Women’s Six Nations is still searching for a giantkiller, with the ever-dominant England not needing a consistent performance to overcome one of their main challengers in Ireland. So if people in Edinburgh see glasses of water shaking, trees being shoved to the floor and massive footprints on the ground next week, do not be alarmed, it’s just the Red Roses coming to town. Still, Ireland showed they had narrowed the gap as they cut the Red Roses’ winning margin to 21 points from 44 in last year’s tournament.
The overwhelming presence of the world champions will be diminished in round two at Murrayfield, as Morwenna Talling and Natasha Hunt were dealt long-term injuries. The exact prognosis has not yet been confirmed but the England head coach, John Mitchell, said he expected them to be ruled out for the rest of the tournament. The loss of Hunt is a blow but that of Talling is more significant, with four locks now missing because of injury or pregnancy.
Despite the depleted squad England still managed to pull off a five-try performance to start their title defence. The ground at Twickenham was rumbling from the cheers of a tournament record attendance of 77,120, just over 4,000 shy of the crowd that watched the Red Roses win the Rugby World Cup last September at the same ground. Their Six Nations opener was both teams’ first time back on the pitch since that groundbreaking event.
England were far from their best but the new vice-captain, Amy Cokayne, led from the front with a great performance. The hooker scored a try, made an interception and had a 100% lineout success, which was one of the most key elements of the team’s performance. Some had thought the set piece was going to be weakened because some of the usual callers – such as Abbie Ward – are away with pregnancy but it remained consistent.
This game also gave fans a sense of where Ireland are and the team showed they are capable of being within touching distance of the title come the final round. The visitors’ late resurgence and some class defence showed promise that they could defeat France.
The crowd was the biggest Ireland had ever played in front of and in addition it was a momentous occasion for the hooker Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald, who won her 50th cap. There may have been some who thought she would never don the jersey again after being exiled from the international team in 2022 and 2023 after criticising comments made by the then women’s director of rugby, Anthony Eddy. But Scott Bemand recalled her for the 2024 Six Nations and the hooker, who also played against her wife, the England wing Claudia, for the first time at international level on Saturday, has been one of the most consistent stars since. Bemand’s side also featured the return of the world-class Erin King, who came back to the international stage with a try after recovering from a serious knee injury that kept her out of the World Cup.
Before the anthems a tifo featuring England stars of past and present billowed from the roof to the floor of one of the stands. It was the first of its kind in the sport and it was the literal curtain-raiser for both teams’ campaign. England were the first over through Cokayne and while Ireland had promising moments, the Red Roses extended their lead through two Sarah Bern tries.
Scotland opened their Women’s Six Nations campaign with a 24-19 victory over Wales in Cardiff.
Chloe Rollie finished a quick break to cross and send Scotland ahead, with Helen Nelson converting, but Wales instantly responded through Kelsey Jones from the rolling maul and Keira Bevan added the extras.
Leah Bartlett was sent to the sin-bin, with Wales soon capitalising as Sisilia Tuipulotu went over, but Bevan’s conversion attempt hit a post and Nelson kicked a penalty to reduce Wales’s lead to 12-10 at the break.
Scotland struck soon after the restart when Shona Campbell pounced on a loose kick before charging over and, after Bryonie King was sent to the sin-bin, Lucia Scott (pictured) latched on to a cross-field kick before grounding, with Nelson converting both tries.
Kate Williams replied for Wales in the final 10 minutes, with the try converted by Lleucu George, which set up late drama. Scotland's Demi Swann was sent to the sin-bin five minutes into the red zone, but the ball went out of play from a mistake from the Welsh lineout and the visitors clinched victory.
Earlier, France roared to a 40-7 victory against Italy in the opening match in Grenoble. Anaïs Grando scored the only try of an even first half followed by a blowout at the Stade des Alpes. Carla Arbez crossed over just after half-time and converted that – as she did from France’s four further tries – before Gaia Buso claimed an Italian consolation late on. PA Media
Talling’s injury came at the start of the second half and Mitchell said players would have to be in dual roles to contend with their lock injury crisis. “You never want to see your teammates hurt but I guess for us we will just adapt,” he said. “We have lost four international locks so we will probably be a team of back-rowers by the end of the competition. There are different ways to play this game and if we have to rely on back-rowers, we will make it work.”
England next scored through Jess Breach, who ran in the bonus-point try. Ireland responded with tries from King and the replacement Anna McGann but Kildunne’s score sealed the win.
The last time Ireland played at Twickenham in 2024 they lost 88-10 and Bemand said they were encouraged by their progress. “We want to be there with world champions today,” he said. “But there is a process you have to go through and you have to keep making step changes in areas of your game. You have to grow your squad and the capability in that.”
England Kildunne; Breach, Jones (capt), Rowland, Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald; Aitchison (Harrison 50), L Packer (Hunt 50; Sing 64); Clifford (Carson 50), Cokayne (Powell 68), Bern (Muir 50), Talling (Lutui 44), Campion, Feaunati (Burton 68), Kabeya, Matthews. Tries Cokayne, Bern 2, Breach, Kildunne. Cons Rowland 4.
Ireland Flood; Parsons (McGann 60), Dalton, Higgins (McGillivray 50), Elmes Kinlan; O’Brien, Lane (Whelan 68); Perry (O’Dowd 50), Claudia Moloney-MacDonald (Jones 60), Djougang (Cahill 68); Wall (Campbell 50), Tuite; Hogan, King (capt), Wafer (Moore 61). Tries McGann, King. Con O’Brien.
Referee Clara Munarini (It). Attendance 77,120.
Ireland will look to bounce back against Italy next Saturday, while England march on to Scotland. If the fairytale giant’s catchphrase is fee-fi-fo-fum, the Red Roses’ warning chant would be Am-y Cok-ayne. Scotland will be aware of what England will bring but the seven-time back-to-back champions will be aiming to add to their now unbeaten run of 34 games across all competitions.
