England extended their winning streak to 34 games in the Women’s Six Nations, but France pushed them closer than anyone else has in years. We grade each team’s performances and reveal the Opta Team of the Tournament.
England secured a seventh consecutive Women’s Six Nations title in 2025, surviving final-round drama against France at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham. The Red Roses have now won 34 consecutive matches in the Championship since a one-point defeat to Les Bleues in 2018.
With the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup fast approaching, we’ve assessed the tournament’s key takeaways, deliver report cards for each team and name our Team of the Championship, selected using the Opta supercomputer.
England
Head Coach John Mitchell wanted to use this Six Nations to expand the depth in his squad ahead of the World Cup later this year, and he did just that. England fielded 34 players across the campaign, more than any other side, with a championship-high 16 of them scoring at least one try.
If we are being hyper critical, England probably never strung a full 80-minute performance together in any of their games, but when they needed to, the Red Roses had the power and class to pull away from all their rivals. France came closest to unsettling them, but England’s early points in that Grand Slam decider proved just enough.
1 – @RedRosesRugby topped the charts for possession (56%), territory (56%), lineout (98%) & scrum success rates (100%), tries (40), carry metres (4851), line breaks (58), defenders beaten (188), passes (1125) and tackle success rate (91%) in the 2025 @Womens6Nations. Dominant. pic.twitter.com/K36DS9w8YA
— OptaJonny (@OptaJonny) April 29, 2025Their next outing at Allianz Stadium could well be the World Cup final later this year. Hopefully memories of their near miss against France won’t cause any anxieties if they do make it that far.
If they get there — and they should, given they are the best team in the world at the number — this golden generation will have the chance to finally claim the prize they’ve been chasing. Anything less isn’t worth thinking about.
Golden Stat: England topped the charts for possession (56%), territory (56%), lineout (98%) and scrum success rates (100%), tries (40), carry metres (4851), line breaks (58), defenders beaten (188), passes (1125) and tackle success rate (91%) in the 2025 Six Nations.
France
France were slightly underwhelming in rounds 1-4 of the 2025 Women’s Six Nations. They registered four wins from four, three with a try bonus point, but they conceded at least two tries in each game and never really hit top gear.
Despite this sluggish start, they almost pulled off the biggest heist, losing to England by just one point in the Grand Slam decider. A fumbled restart denied them the chance to launch one final barrage on England’s line to try and cause a huge shock.
Their tactics in that game were excellent. They targeted England’s fringes with powerful ball carriers and exploited space out wide. Their 418 post-contact metres in that match were more than double what any other team managed against the Red Roses (Ireland were second with 203).
France may sit fourth in the world rankings behind England, Canada and New Zealand, but they’ll head into the World Cup in England believing they can win it.
Golden Stat: France made a Championship-high 68 offloads, despite recording the fewest total passes (614). Four of their tries were assisted via offloads — double that of any other team.
Ireland
Back-to-back third-place finishes mark clear progress for Ireland after a challenging period. Their 2025 campaign had high points — big wins over Italy and Wales — but ended on a disappointing note with a defeat to Scotland.
Against the top two sides they competed well, matching England in the first half of their clash and doing the same in the second half of their match against France. Ultimately, though, they were blown away by England and fell short of putting enough pressure on France to worry them.
Golden Stat: Ireland recorded the best ruck success rate this year (97%) and were one of just two teams with an average ruck speed below three seconds (2.7, England 2.5). They also slowed their opponents’ rucks down more than any other team (3.2s on average).
Italy
An impressive away win against Scotland in Round 3 followed by a dominant win against a beleaguered Wales in Parma in Round 5 elevated Italy to a fourth-place finish. They’re still a little way off the top three sides but they did run France close, holding a nine-point half-time lead against them before succumbing in the second period.
The Azzurre showed they have the firepower and forward muscle to challenge most sides. In a World Cup pool featuring France, South Africa and Brazil, they’ll back themselves to progress — potentially setting up a quarter-final against Ireland or New Zealand.
Golden Stat: Italy made more carries than any other side (714) and only Scotland (815) made more tackles (Italy 794). Their 87 dominant tackles were at least 25 more than any other team.
Scotland
An opening round victory over Wales will have alleviated a little pressure on Scotland for the rest of the Championship; recently this has been a really competitive fixture and it proved to be once again. Predictable defeats to England and France ensued but a home loss to Italy in between those games will have been a disappointment.
However, they ended on a high with a win over Ireland, showing resilience and grit. All of their matches — England aside — were close at half-time, suggesting they are becoming increasingly competitive. With more consistency and stamina, they could be dangerous at the World Cup.
Golden Stat: Scotland made more tackles than any other team (815) and had the second most kicks from hand (117), just behind Wales (120).
Wales
Things can’t get much worse for Welsh rugby at the moment. Back-to-back wooden spoons in both the men’s and women’s Six Nations feels like it a nadir. The women will have been realistic about their chances against the big three sides, but top and tailing their campaign with defeats to Scotland and Italy will have hurt, especially the heavy nature of their loss in Parma in Round 5.
They were missing some notable players, Alex Callender from the opening three rounds and Sisilia Tuipulotu from the entire tournament, which won’t have helped, but if anything, that just highlights their lack of depth at the moment.
Other sides could cope better with absentees, England even used the Championship as a chance to further the experience of their wider squad. Wales have a tough task of escaping a World Cup pool including Scotland and Canada; even Fiji will fancy their chances.
Golden Stat: Wales had the lowest dominant carry rate (34%) and were the only team not to surpass 1,000 post-contact metres (934). Their tally of 26 dominant tackles was the lowest in the tournament.
Women’s Six Nations 2025 Team of the Tournament
England stormed to another Grand Slam but surprisingly their players don’t dominate our Team of the Championship. In fact, the Red Roses only have three players in the lineup while Wales are the one side without a player in our team, which is picked using the Opta Index.
This specific XV was selected using the players to accumulate the highest score over the five rounds, potentially hampering the chances of some England players to make the cut.
However, when we selected the team on a per-80-minutes basis, there were only four differences. The four to miss out, who might have featured had their coaches given them more time on the pitch, were Zoe Harrison, Megan Jones, Dorothy Wall and Evie Gallagher. Aoife Wafer is also worth mentioning. Ireland’s backrow superstar had the seventh best score overall and sixth best on a per-80 basis but missed out narrowly to Teani Feleu and Evie Gallagher in both rankings.
England’s new captain Zoe Aldcroft topped the Index, underlining her immense influence. France’s Manon Bigot, meanwhile, led the competition in per-80-minute score.
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England Unstoppable, France Threaten, Ireland on the Rise: What 2025 Women’s Six Nations Taught Us Ahead of the World Cup Opta Analyst.
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