We need to be brave and change Women's Six Nations format
In short, England are too dominant. That is not taking away from anything England have done. I have been part of England sides that have been dominant; we won the Six Nations seven years on the bounce between 2006 and 2012, and the biggest upset was when we didn't win the Grand Slam.
The narrative that England need to lose to become the best is something that I don't totally agree with. After all, their training will be hugely challenging, but people are not watching that. The Six Nations tournament is up there at the pinnacle but a lack of competition can make the product harder to sell.
I don't think you should penalise England, or any side, for being dominant. We should celebrate how good they are. It is not their fault; they are reaping the rewards of long-term investment in the team while other nations are in earlier stages of professionalism.
Be brave and try something
So how do you solve the problem and add more unpredictability? It is a fascinating question.
You could go extreme, rip everything up and merge the Women's Six Nations with the Pacific Four Series, which involves Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States, so you have the top teams in the world playing each other. But I think that is too tricky with costs, logistics, playing seasons, time zones and so on, as we have seen a little with the WXV tournament over the past two years.
Still, we don't have to follow the men's game. This is an opportunity to view the women's game differently, to be brave and try something. Yes, we want to keep the core values and what is at the heart of it because the Six Nations is really special and players want to play in it.
My first cap was against Scotland and it was an amazing feeling to wear the white shirt in a tournament like the Six Nations, to feel the history. It is an honour. It is like playing at the big stadiums. I remember playing at Twickenham for the first time in 2007 and there were maybe 100 people there, but the opportunity to be in that dressing room and on that pitch was amazing.
Any changes must retain what is special but make it more competitive, add jeopardy, and give the other nations time to challenge. The best idea I've heard came from a conversation with BBC commentator Sara Orchard. It is a tiering system, which would be similar to what we did during Covid but instead of random pools it would be seeded because we want England to be challenged.
Finals day could be rotated
So you have the three best teams in tier one, which right now would be England, France and Ireland, and the other three – Italy, Scotland and Wales – in tier two. Teams play the other sides in their tier home and away, then there is a big finals day at one venue where one plays two to win the Six Nations, three plays four as in the bottom of tier one and top of tier two, and five plays six. That three v four game would be important because it would be for promotion and relegation for the following year's championship.
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