Following their defeat in the final of the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2022, England were rampant in last season’s Championship, securing a Grand Slam with a 38-33 win over France in the final round. This fixture saw record attendance at a Women’s rugby union match, with 58,498 fans watching the Red Roses secure a fifth consecutive Championship at Twickenham.
Insights presented by Sage demonstrate how the style of international Women’s rugby has helped its popularity surge in recent years. Women’s rugby is a less defensively oriented game than the Men’s equivalent. In the 2024 Men’s Championship, there were an average of 55.5 kicks in play per match. This owes to the development of more rigid defences in the modern game, elevating territory – and therefore kicking – to a greater level of importance. In contrast, more creative, attacking styles are more prominent in Women’s rugby, with passing a favoured option to kicking. In the 2023 Women’s Championship, there were fewer than half the number of kicks in play than the recent Men’s equivalent.
In fact, it was the quality of England’s endeavour with ball in hand which was most impressive about their campaign last season. In total, they made more 32% more passing metres than any other team. Individually, England fly-half Holly Aitchison was the only player to make over a kilometre of distance with her passing, with England looking to stretch their opposition with ball in hand. Assisted by players throughout the team capable of moving the ball into space – notably midfielder Tatiana Heard - this was how the Red Roses exploited wide threats such as Abby Dow, who scored more tries than any other back in last season’s Championship (six).
Teams in the Women’s Championship consistently favour keeping the ball in hand to break down opposition defences. In 2023, there were an average of 10.5 passes per kick in play compared to 5.4 in the 2024 Men’s Championship. A new Smart Ball metric also indicates this increased attacking intent in the Women’s game: running plays. A running play is when the ball is not in flight – it has neither been passed or kicked – but the ball is travelling toward the opposition try line. There were an average of 218.8 running plays per match in the Women’s Championship last season compared to 189.2 in the Men’s.
The importance of attacking with ball in hand necessitates an incredibly high skill level from 1 to 15. The average pass distance in last season’s Women’s Championship was 5.8 metres – 0.9 metres shorter than that of the Men’s Championship. However, England Women made more passing metres than any Men’s team in 2024, a total of 5,962. It is the number of players who pass the ball in the Women’s game that make up the disparity, with forwards often just as prominent distributors as backs. Notably, Marlie Packer made more passes last season than any other forward and was the top try-scorer of the Championship – testament not only to her skill but this feature of the Women’s game.
However, last season Wales powerfully demonstrated that physicality remains imperative. Wales had the lowest average pass distance of the Championship in 2023 (5.4 metres), using their dominant forward pack to move them down the pitch. Sisilia Tuipulotu returns for her second campaign, having shown ferocious power close to the line last season. She finished the series as Wales’ top try scorer, forcing her way over the line four times in five appearances. Fellow Welsh prop Gwenllian Pyrs also scored three tries, demonstrating the power that they have in their ranks up front.
Perhaps the Guinness Women’s Six Nations greatest attribute is the contrasting styles of the competing nations. While we’ve seen that it is a generally more attacking game, England are renowned for moving the ball wide, fast; Wales are building an attack around a powerful pack; France – who averaged more kicks in play than any other team last season – base their game on territorial and set piece dominance. The Championship is rich and varied, and will be unmissable yet again in 2024.
