The Women’s Six Nations is underway for 2026 and after wins for France, England and Scotland in round one here are six talking points…
Coubrough can be proud of debut
One can only imagine the butterflies that were in Emily Coubrough’s tummy before kick-off at such a famous stadium as the Principality. The 19-year-old was catapulted into a debut at No.8 for Scotland and played the full 87 minutes in the 24-19 win over Wales and did very well. She will have learnt so much from the experience and may now well keep the jersey to take on England in an even bigger game next week at Murrayfield.
One for stats fans as Scotland hit 250 (and then 251) cap milestone
A few years ago, Scottish Rugby did some great research to establish the women’s national team roll of honour. At that point 232 players had earned caps from cap number one Catriona Binnie versus Ireland in the first ever Test versus Ireland in 1993 and cap number 232 Elis Martin versus USA in 2022. With Emily Coubrough (cap 249), Holland Bogan (cap 250) and Demi Swann (cap 251) playing against Wales on Saturday we have not hit another milestone in terms of the number of players who have appeared in dark blue.
Defeat for Wales, but much to build on
In front of a vocal 10,569 crowd at the Principality Stadium, Wales showed what this Sean Lynn team wants to be about going forward. In defence, in the first 30 minutes in particular, they were in Scotland’s faces and forcing errors and were making some big hits. The next part for an evolving Wales side will now be how to find more of an attacking edge.
The Moloney-MacDonald match up
England winger Claudia Moloney-MacDonald and Ireland hooker Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald ran out at Allianz Stadium Twickenham on opposite sides for the first time in a Test match. “I think it was a kick in the head,” Red Rose Claudia jokingly said post-match about a run-in with her other half. “She said she had no idea, but I said ‘you kicked me then rolled over the top of me’, but it’s fine, we’re over it!”
England and France still leading the way
England may not have quite hit the heights that they did while they won the Rugby World Cup last year in their opening 33-12 bonus point win over Ireland at Allianz Stadium Twickenham, but the world’s number one team are still be some way the best team in this competition. Other teams involved will feel that getting at France is more achievable, but they showed at times versus Italy in their 40-7 bonus point triumph in Grenobles that put them top of the fledgling table that when their offloading game is on point they are still be hard to stop.
Can Scotland crack the 30,000 barrier versus England?
After a tournament record crowd of 77,120 people were at Allianz Stadium Twickenham to see England-Ireland and there were healthy crowds in Grenobles and Cardiff in round one, excitement is building to see what sort of crowds might be recorded during the rest of the tournament. In round two next weekend Scotland and England will be playing at Murrayfield and, a few days ago, over a record number of 25,000 tickets had been sold. That is a great number in itself, but if over 30,000 can be in the national stadium for kick-off that would really make it an extra special moment for women’s rugby in this country.
Scotland debutante Emily Coubrough and team mates are pictured versus Wales – thanks to Scottish Rugby
The Women’s Six Nations is here and the 2026 event runs from April 11 to May 17 and, between April 6 and May 20, GH Media will be covering Scotland’s campaign and the wider tournament – keep an eye out for content and thanks to everyone who supports GH Media’s work within women’s rugby