The 2024 Women’s Six Nations kicked off this weekend with a landmark moment for women’s rugby, as a record-breaking sell-out crowd packed London’s Twickenham Stadium to watch newly crowned world champions England open their title defense with a dominant 33-12 victory over Ireland on Saturday.
Saturday’s attendance hit 77,120 fans, falling just 4,700 short of the all-time women’s rugby attendance record set at last September’s World Cup final, also hosted at Twickenham when England defeated Canada to claim the global title. This figure shattered the previous Women’s Six Nations attendance record of 58,498, set during a 2023 England-France clash, with organizers projecting that total cumulative attendance for this year’s tournament will far outpace the 151,506 fans that turned out across all matches in 2023. The sustained surge in ticket demand comes directly on the heels of England’s 2023 World Cup victory, which has dramatically boosted mainstream interest in elite women’s rugby.
Playing their first test match since lifting the World Cup trophy, England showed early rust but still outmatched Ireland in physicality, extending their unprecedented global winning streak to 34 consecutive test matches. By halftime, England held a commanding 21-0 lead, with front-row forwards Amy Cokayne and Sarah Bern each crossing for tries off set-piece lineouts. Two key England players — lock Morwenna Talling and scrumhalf Natasha Hunt — finished the match on crutches after picking up injuries, but the reigning champions closed out the game with two late spectacular tries: Jess Breach marked her 54th test appearance with her 54th career try in the 54th minute, a fitting statistical milestone, before Ellie Kildunne finished off a blistering 60-meter counterattack to extend the lead.
Ireland earned a moral victory by adding two late tries from Anna McGann and new captain Erin King, securing their narrowest defeat to England in a decade. Megan Jones, who made her debut as England’s new full-time captain in the match, was named player of the match for her standout performance. “There’s always going to be nerves going into a big campaign off the back of an amazing World Cup,” Jones told reporters after the game. “To have this crowd is phenomenal. We want to play but sometimes it gets a bit unstuck like that. But we found ways, that’s what a winning team does.”
Across the other opening weekend fixtures, second-ranked France pulled away from Italy for a 40-7 victory in Grenoble, extending their winning streak against Italy to six consecutive matches. The match featured six French debutantes, three of whom started in the lineup, including standout tackle machine Mathilde Lazarko. Prop Assia Khalfaoui earned player of the match honors for her dominant performance up front. France held only a narrow 5-0 halftime lead after winger Anaïs Grando scored a try on her international debut, but broke the game open in the second half when flyhalf Carla Arbez sliced through Italy’s defensive line to trigger a try-scoring flood. Tries from props Yllana Brosseau and Khalfaoui, a setup for winger Léa Murie from new fullback Pauline Barrat, and a late try from Barrat herself pushed France to a 40-0 lead by the 76th minute, before Italy’s Gaia Buso scored a converted consolation try — Italy’s first points against France in three and a half years of play. The match ended on a sour note for France, however, as star center Joanna Grisez left the pitch with a serious-looking knee injury.
In the final opening match at Cardiff, Scotland pulled off a narrow 24-19 comeback win over Wales. Wales held a 12-10 halftime lead after powerful tries from front-rowers Kelsey Jones and Sisilia Tuipulotu, backed by rugged defensive play. Scotland capitalized on gaps in Wales’ backfield, with tries from Shona Campbell and Lucia Scott set up by well-placed kicks behind the Welsh defense. Accurate goalkicking from Helen Nelson put Scotland up 24-12 heading into the final minutes. Wales’ substitute reserves lifted the team’s tempo, and captain Kate Williams scored a converted try after a setup from Seren Lockwood, cutting Scotland’s lead to just five points. In the 87th minute of stoppage time, with Scotland reduced to 14 players, Wales worked their way out of their own 22-meter line to within 35 meters of the Scottish try line, but a misplayed trick lineout play ended their dramatic late fightback with the ball on the turf.