England Women's 6ns team.

England women's 6ns England 80 Scotland 0.

Just in case any one interested.

England totally dominated from the start and kept it up all through the game. untill the last whistle went.

Unlike the men's game England men dominated the first half but lost the second half.

Is this a sign that the Women's England team is better than the men's England team?

Discuss.

I love the women’s game getting attention, but it’s a bit fickle to support them now.

I stayed to watch the Women's game. Sadly we are in the position right now where the England team are professional in reality and outlook while most of the other teams in the 6Ns are not. This is most definitely a case of the resources available to England bulldozering the others. It is a shame because Women's rugby has a lot to offer encouraging girls of all shapes and sizes to play sport. 

The Scottish lasses were plucky but completely unable to compete. I hope that the other countries in GB&I can consolidate and improve, but it does not seem likely. Ultimately the professionalism of the English team could be detrimental to the development of the game in these isles.

London Tiger has pretty much said it all. Professionalism at the highest level meets amateurs. The English women had to be professional so why toy around with a side, pretending that task is more difficult than it is just to perhaps cover up the genuine gap? I'm all for teams that can be ruthless being ruthless. The Scottish women could in turn only do what they could do - turn up to an unequal contest and be 'humiliated'.
Is such a Six Nations really the way to get attention for the woman's game? Other sides can aspire but in some Nations sustaining the men's sides, professional and U20, is I'm sure stretching resources as it is.
The woman's game will I'm sure expand over the decades but it's going to be a long painful journey to make it genuinely competitive.

I'll be honest with you I have supported the women's game for several years, since about 2011. I have been to see them twice so far and they always give 100%. Granted the skill level is not on a par with the mens game, but the Red Roses are turning into a seriously good team. It's good fun to watch.

It'll be interesting to see how they cope with the Black Ferns next time they play. Our girls have improved massively in the past couple of seasons - you only have to look at the wonderful find that is Jess Breach: 7 caps, 20 tries. Yes, 20. Abbie Scott's an England captain in the making when Sarah Hunter eventually retires and there's strength in depth across all positions.

And yes, Scotland were hopelessly outgunned, but this wasn't actually their worst result. They lost 89-0 in 2012* against England I think...

*Edit - it was 2011. 15 tries - eek!

The French are just as good as us, having won the Grand Slam last year. We expected the match against France to be a humdinger but it turns out they gave priority to the Sevens series instead, to try and win automatic Olympic qualification.

It may well be they have the right idea. The top 4 teams qualify automatically, and France are in 5th place, with Ireland in 6th. Meanwhile, England's 7s have had a dreadful year, as we put our resources back into 15s. We are in eight place, and appear to have no chance of finishing in the top four.

This means we shall have to go through the European qualifier. However, we will have to play at least two of France Ireland and Russia, who are all better than us this year. We may have to play all three, and Spain are no slouches either. Either way, qualification will be a tall order.

Winning an easy Six Nations Grand Slam could well have cost us an Olympic sevens spot.

LondonTiger wrote:I stayed to watch the Women's game. Sadly we are in the position right now where the England team are professional in reality and outlook while most of the other teams in the 6Ns are not. This is most definitely a case of the resources available to England bulldozering the others. It is a shame because Women's rugby has a lot to offer encouraging girls of all shapes and sizes to play sport. 

The Scottish lasses were plucky but completely unable to compete. I hope that the other countries in GB&I can consolidate and improve, but it does not seem likely. Ultimately the professionalism of the English team could be detrimental to the development of the game in these isles.

This is my issue with the women's game. There are too many real one-sided encounters because of the professionalism gap. England's Grand Slammers scored 45 tries (9 a game) with an average win margin of 56-9. There comes a time when it just isn't enjoyable to watch.

The RFU have done the right thing, investing in the Women's game - although they could do more and were criticised for switching focus between World Cup and Olympics and not supporting both programmes. Other nations with fewer resources haven't been able to match this, which creates an imbalance.

robbo277 wrote:Other nations with fewer resources haven't been able to match this, which creates an imbalance.

England women don't have it all their own way in rugby. We were a more dominant side in the North a decade or so ago. Since the Irish won a Grand Slam in 2013, the French have won 3 Six Nations titles, the English two, and the Irish picked up a second. There's been a womens rugby world cup since 1991, and England have won twice against five wins for New Zealand, and one for USA.

New Zealand, England France and USA can usually be competitive in Womens XVs, with Ireland and Australia shining occasionally but more inconsistemt. That's arguably more depth than men's rugby league, and more than a women's sport with a longer history like softball.

As far as womens rugby sevens goes, England are nowhere, really. We have never won a World Series title, and our best result was runner-up in 2012-3. Since a third place in 2015-6, we haven't managed to even finish in the top 6. The women did get a bronze at the Commonwealth Games sevens in 2018 but were no better than 9th in the World Cup sevens that same year.

I don't know which teams do have the most resources but New Zealand regularly do better than us, and both France & USA seem to fight on two fronts with more consistency than England have managed so far.