Guinness Women’s Six Nations 2025 Preview

Photo: Guinness Women’s Six Nations

The Guinness Women’s Six Nations commences on the 22nd March 2025, with the first two games being Ireland vs France in Belfast at 1pm and Scotland vs Wales in Edinburgh at 4:45pm.

Format

The six nations involved in the competition are, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, Italy and England.

The tournament is made up of five rounds of matchdays where all teams play each other, with a break before the third round, and concludes on the 26th April with all six nations playing each other on that day.

Four points are awarded for a win, two for a draw and one bonus point may be awarded if a team scores four or more tries or loses by seven points or less.

A Grand Slam also awards three bonus points and is achieved by winning all matches.

History

The Women's Six Nations Championship was founded in 1996 and since then, the team with the most victories is England's Red Roses with 20 wins in 29 editions.

When the tournament was founded it began with only the Home Nations: England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

France joined the competition in 1998 and for the next two seasons, Spain replaced Ireland. In 2001 the Women's Six Nations tournament was formed with England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Spain and France due to Spain being higher ranked than Italy.

It wasn't until 2007 that Italy replaced Spain which aligned the competition with the men's edition.

Where to watch

The Guiness Women's Six Nations is set to serve as crucial prep for both spectators and players for the Women's Rugby World Cup in the summer.

In the UK matches are available to watch live on BBC i player. You can find a list of broadcasters for outside of the UK here.