Supremacy at the Six Nations: is England’s dominance an issue for women’s rugby?
A world-record winning streak stretched to 36 matches, no defeats in the Six Nations since 2018 and none at all since the 2022 Rugby World Cup final: England’s dominance of women’s rugby is undeniable, but is it bad for the game?Before addressing that question, as England prepare for their penultimate 2026 Six Nations match against Italy in Parma on Saturday, another needs to be answered – why are the world champions so dominant? The simple answer is the investment made by the Rugby Football Union,Of course the big player pool and talent play a huge part but England have been able to develop professionally since full-time contracts were announced in 2018,Alongside the RFU has invested in marketing, growing sponsorship revenue and gradually building attendances by showcasing the team across the country,Other nations have followed in England’s footsteps but the Red Roses are a few years ahead and the former New Zealand World Cup-winning wing Ruby Tui says she could never be mad at a team for being “too good”,“They changed their contracting system, everybody bought into the 15s,” Tui says.
“It has taken that long – nearly 10 years on, here we are.Systematically they have put in such long hours, years, that they are like, ‘no, we aren’t losing now.’“It is not overnight success.I have seen this big wave growing for a long time now.I was seeing it and saying: ‘England are doing the smart moves and they are setting themselves up for years of dominance.
’”The Red Roses captain, Meg Jones, has said she can see that spectators may want more competition but added that a lot of fans enjoy the great rugby England put out on the pitch,She wants other nations to put “funding, pathways and infrastructure” in place so teams develop and women’s rugby can be a global sport,Jones has credited the RFU’s investment as the reason England are in such a good spot,The vice-captain, Amy Cokayne, agrees: “The RFU did the right thing, put their money where their mouth is and are reaping the rewards from that,Hopefully we have set the path for other nations to go, ‘if we do invest we will get the return on it.
’“I think it is about raising the floor without lowering the ceiling.We are trying to keep pushing and pushing that ceiling as high as we can.We are still not happy with certain things we do when we play.We have targets and things to get better at.We want to keep driving that and hopefully other teams will keep driving that as well.
”England are also attracting thousands of fans to the game.Just over 77,000 were at Twickenham in round one of this year’s Women’s Six Nations and they sold out Ashton Gate in Bristol in round three.Crowds seem to follow the Red Roses – there were just over 21,000 fans at the Principality Stadium last year for their game against Wales, but under 11,000 for Wales’s fixture against Scotland in Cardiff this year.However, there are concerns that England’s dominance may have a long-term negative impact.On the BBC’s Rugby Union Weekly podcast, Ugo Monye said while some fans go to watch women’s rugby for a good value family day out and some to see the stars in the teams such as Ellie Kildunne, those who want a sporting contest will only be watching “quality rugby from one side”.
Monye added that if ticket prices rise as women’s rugby becomes more popular, fans may reasonably expect more competitive action on the pitch if they are to keep returning to stadiums.The gap to England has also not always been as big as the winning run makes it appear, particularly in matches against France.Last year England squeaked a single-point win in a 43-42 thriller at Twickenham, while in 2023 there was another nail-biter at the home of English rugby when the Red Roses saw out a 38-33 victory.Close matches against other nations could emerge in years to come with youth games proving more competitive.In this year’s Under-18s Six Nations Wales beat England 32-24, while France secured a thumping 75-5 win over their rivals.
Similar results have happened in the past at youth level but did not translate to the senior international stage.If the unions figure out how to make the jump, the competition will be closer.And while there is rarely much jeopardy in games involving England, it does exist elsewhere in the tournament.In the 2026 championship two highly competitive matches stand out: Wales’s narrow loss to Scotland in round one, and France’s impressive defence repelling Ireland to stop their Rugby World Cup revenge mission in round three.Cokayne added: “I am a fan of rugby and we all still get excited watching the different games.
Even the France-Wales game was 7-7 at half-time and that was quite interesting to see how that was going to play out.There are some competitive fixtures throughout the whole tournament, the table hasn’t finished the same the last few years.”The Red Roses are favourites to win the grand slam again this year with only Italy and France standing in the way of their eighth consecutive Six Nations title.This one may be even more impressive though after all the injuries and absentees they have had to deal with.The forwards coach, Louis Deacon, said when asked how winning the trophy this year would compare to last year’s World Cup win: “It will be as big or even bigger because of the turnover of players.
”So is England’s dominance a problem? Not yet.The sport is growing, crowds are rising and stars are breaking into the mainstream.But if competitiveness fails to keep pace, the question will only grow louder.The burden is not on England to ease off, but on everyone else to close the gap.
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