England are the reigning Women’s Six Nations champions and favourites to defend their crown
(Picture: Getty Images)This Women’s Six Nations feels like a new dawn. I’ve played in a lot of these tournaments, but there’s something about this one that feels different, which is great.
It has all the elements to be one of the best Six Nations we’ve seen in a long time in terms of competition.
There’s the TikTok element, coming in as title partner, a brand which gives it serious credibility and enabling it to target a new audience. It’s a really smart move.
When you have a brand like that, with two billion followers, which invests that much into the Women’s Six Nations, it buys it credibility and others start looking in, thinking they’ve missed a trick. Hopefully, not just in the UK but globally, that kickstarts other investments.
The teams ought to be more competitive than ever. There’s Scotland, who’ve had more time together in the last two years than ever qualifying for the World Cup and now with a settled squad.
Then there’s Wales and the spine of their team going full-time in January. They’re not going to change the world in three months, but we’ll see a significant change with them.
Italy have been really successful in recent years and we cannot underestimate the power of them qualifying for the World Cup when no one expected them to. There’s Ireland with their formidable forward pack and then France, who have always been on England’s heels.
Key to the competition is the Allianz Premier 15s and the impact of that. Take Scotland and Harlequins No8 Jade Konkel, for example. Rewind three years and she’d never played against some of these international stars; now she’s playing them week in, week out. Against Saracens, she was the standout player by a mile. Taking that into the Six Nations can only be an uplift.
England are clearly the favourites. They’re on an 18-match winning streak and going for a hat-trick of Grand Slams. They’ve been missing some of their big names but Emily Scarrett is back and the boost that her presence brings, with her experience, calmness and composure, can’t be underestimated.
She always comes up with those big-play moments and it’s scary to think what England can produce now she’s in the squad as well.
But this is the Six Nations with a World Cup in mind. I expect England coach Simon Middleton to embed a few other players for the opening games before settling on the side we’ll see for the most part at the World Cup, against Ireland and France. This weekend can’t come soon enough.
