Make it eight straight for the Red Roses, crowned again in Bordeaux after overcoming France in the pair’s latest Women’s Six Nations grand slam showdown. If one craves consistency in a competition, then this tournament is as reliable as any – the unbeaten duopoly that rule over this meeting progressing unbeaten until its final weekend and then English hands hoisting the trophy aloft.
So it has proved for each of the last six years as the world champions have grown into one the most dominant sports teams in history, but there was every reason for this year to be different. We have marvelled in the past at England’s remarkable depth yet in 2026 it was truly required, with an absentee list that would have left any other nation in rack and ruin. John Mitchell, their straight-talking head coach, has had to do some tough calculations to even work out just how many players he has been missing in this tournament, with four pregnancies adding to an unenviable injury list. The Red Roses have been forced to field two starting locks who had never previously played the position in their senior careers; a 19-year-old in Demelza Short with just eight appearances to Bristol for her name; handed the job of lineout calling to Delaney Burns, not originally named in the squad; and brought back Liz Crake, a dentist/loosehead who had not played for her country for more than three years.
