ITALY
2023 RECAP: Women’s Six Nations – 5th / WXV2 – 2nd / WORLD RANKING: 7th (75.61)
England’s opponents for the opening round of the tournament, Italy Women will be looking to replicate the impressive performances of their Men’s team and achieve some upset victories. The Azzurri men achieved a draw against France and a win over Wales, to finish in fifth place for Gonzalo Quesada’s first competition in charge. Italy Women defeated Ireland 24-7 in last season’s Championship, and too achieved a fifth placed finish in the table.
Italy Women’s captain Elisa Giordano expressed how the side has been inspired by the recent success of the men in blue, and likened her side to an ‘diesel engine’, that may start slow against England, but is looking to finish the competition strong. She discussed how qualifying for the 2025 Rugby World Cup was the goal of the tournament, in what would see her side finish third in the overall rankings.
ELISA GIORDANO: “We of course want to win, to win as much as possible and to write to the qualifications of the World Cup with the Six Nations. So our first game against England is of course the toughest test we have. But we can try to see this match as a test to improve ourself and to understand at what point we are at.”
“Of course, we try to get inspiration and make the same boat as Italy (men). As a nation we are kind of like a diesel engine, so we’ll start slowly then improve game by game, match by match, and we are trying to finish our tournament better than we started, and to improve on going up. Of course, the results of the men’s national team are positive for us.”
Italy head coach Giovanni Raineri then discussed one of his most talked about talents, in centre Beatrice Rigoni. The Sale Sharks star has been tearing up the PWR this season, despite her club not reaching the heights she would have hoped for. Rigoni is one such player who could be set for a future return to Italy, after the FIR’s landmark annoucement of launching women’s franchises with Benetton Treviso and Zebre Parma, to grow the women’s side of the sport on home soil.
GIOVANNI RAINERI: “Lots of your journalist are asking about Beatrice Rigoni. So, we can say she’s making a good improvement here in England. We are happy about that. Even if Sale Sharks are not doing good in the tournament now, but I know she’s doing a good job here. Also Sara Tounesi, they play together with the Sale Sharks. They starting to play really good rugby. Beatrice, you know is full of fantasy, she’s always tried to do some different rugby and she has a (different) rugby style, so we must accept that, because it’s part of her.”
IRELAND
2023 RECAP: Women’s Six Nations – 6th / WXV3 – Champions / WORLD RANKING: 10th (71.52)
The underdogs coming into the competition, Ireland have often struggled in the Women’s Six Nations yet did get their hands on silverware last Autumn. Ireland lifted the trophy to cap off the inaugural WXV3 competition, with a trifecta of wins over Kazakhstan, Colombia and Spain.
Former England scrum half Scott Bemand is ready to lead his side through his first Women’s Six Nations, after taking over the reins as head coach back in July. Bemand was formerly the England Women’s backs coach, and is excited to enter the competition with a new side and more responsibilities.
SCOTT BEMAND: “Really exciting, new challenge. Obviously, we don’t shy away of looking at what sort of went on in the last six nations, but the group has come together, we’ve done WXV, we built some winning momentum, built some connections and just excited about getting going into this Six Nations.”
“I don’t know if it’s more of a challenge (than coaching England). It’s a younger program, with England, professionalism started a few years before (Ireland), so you could say the maturity of the program is on a couple of years. But how people are developing within the program, when we get people back together, girls that are playing in the UK, are clearly developing. Girls that are in the Ireland program, the centralised program, or the non-centralised program.
“So there’s a reasonable amount of touch points, we’re going to continue to grow those touch points as we go through. But I’d say, the challenges have always existed a bit like that. When you get back into camp, there’s a palpable level of excitement to get back in a room together.”
Ireland take on France in their opening game, who outside of the reigning champions England, look like the front-runners for the 2024 title. Ireland co-captain Edel McMahon spoke at the competition launch event, about how she is readying her side to test their mettle in a fiery French atmosphere. The Exeter Chiefs back row recalled her trip to Toulouse from two years ago, and the impressive crowd that was drawn.
EDEL MCMAHON: “I loved playing there two years ago in Toulouse, loosen that was a full crowd. We actually chatted about our experiences on the pitch. I just heard quite a lot of noise. Yes, the line-breaka, a big hit, try score, turn over momentum, and that is engulfed while you’re on the pitch. But you don’t really pick up those little things like drums or whistles going (in the crowd). I think you kind of found that a little bit different on the sideline. Maybe from an Irish perspective, maybe the crowd liked us a bit more.”
“Sometimes you kind of zone out of it. I feel like you focus more into the game. And it’s just background noise. It does help then when you’re on the front foot and the crowd was what you. It’s just an experience to relish.”
WALES
2023 RECAP: Women’s Six Nations – 3rd / WXV1 – 6th / WORLD RANKING: 6th (76.76)
Wales are a side that continue to improve in every performance. Along with Ireland and Scotland, Ioan Cunningham’s side are bringing through their next generation in the Celtic Challenge, in a push to close the gap between England & France, and the rest of the Six Nations pack. Wales’ women’s side went professional in 2022, and the WRU more than doubled their contracts from 14 to 25 last year.
The continued growth saw Wales finish third in the 2023 Women’s Six Nations, as stars like world-beating prop Sisilia Tuipulotu emerged for the Red Dragons. The 3rd place finish earned Wales a spot in the top flight of WXV, yet they struggled in defeats to Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Head coach Cunningham and captain Hannah Jones spoke at the launch event, and laid out their ambitions for the upcoming tournament.
Out of the 36 players selected for Cunningham’s Women’s Six Nations squad, 13 of them play their club rugby at Gloucester-Hartpury. Skipper Jones is amongst the contingent, lead the side to win their first league title, in last season’s Allianz Premier 15s campaign. Cunningham discussed the strong proportion of Cherry and Whites in the national side, and the team cohesion this builds for Wales.
IOAN CUNNINGHAM: “Yeah, 100% I think the momentum that Gloucester-Hartpury can bring into camp with us, you know, there’s 13 players there at Gloucester-Hartpury, So we’re excited by that. And we’ve got to capitalize on that momentum for sure. And how do you bring that momentum if they’re playing for Gloucester and other players, to express themselves as they have been for Gloucester Hartpury, which is really important. combinations are key as well, I think we looked at about two or three games back-to-back, five of the back-line were Welsh, of the seven. So that’s something good for us and Welsh combinations are important that we can capitalize at Test level.”
HANNAH JONES: “Yes, just using the momentum to our advantage really. We’ve learned how to deal with momentum, few of us over the border and just having that winning mindset. We’ve had a few tough close games in the Premiership, like at Exeter a couple of weeks ago. It’s just keeping calm more and more, thinking about the next job and not getting ahead of ourselves. And we play our game within 20 minutes, 20 minutes each time. So it’s not going ahead of yourself in the game, keeping calm and making the right decisions at the time.”