Latest news with #GuinnessW6N
The 42
29-04-2025
- Sport
- The 42
Ireland's Aoife Wafer named on Six Nations Player of the Championship shortlist
IRELAND'S AOIFE WAFER is one of four players nominated for the prestigious Guinness Player of the Championship after the conclusion of the 2025 Women's Six Nations. Ireland back row player Wafer is joined by England winger Abby Dow, France second-row Manaé Feleu, and Scotland back-row Evie Gallagher on the shortlist. Advertisement Wafer was yesterday announced as one of the three Irish players included in the Six Nations Team of the Championship, along with team-mates Neve Jones and Aoife Dalton. 🌟 The Nominees are in for this year's Guinness Player of the Championship 🤩 🏴 @RedRosesRugby's Abby Dow 🇫🇷 @FranceRugby's Manae Feleu ☘️ @IrishRugby's Aoife Wafer 🏴 @Scotlandteam's Evie Gallagher Vote for your winner here ➡️ — Guinness Women's Six Nations (@Womens6Nations) April 29, 2025 Wafer finished the tournament as joint-second in the top try scorer race with four tries, the joint-most by any forward. She made 70 carries (ranked first) for a total of 424.7 metres – a tally that surpasses many back-three players in the championship – and beat 17 defenders, which was the second highest of any forward in the championship. England winger Abbey Dow finished as the top try scorer with six tries for the Red Roses. Scotland back row Gallagher also impressed as she led the championship for defensive rucks hit (38) and topped the breakdown steals chart (10). France second row and captain Manaé Feleu led from the frontamong the top five forwards in four key areas: line breaks (3), offloads (8), breakdown steals (4) and dominant tackles (8). Fans are being asked to vote for one of the four nominees, with voting open until 10pm on Tuesday 6 May, and votes can be made here.
BreakingNews.ie
26-04-2025
- Sport
- BreakingNews.ie
England hold off stirring France fightback to clinch Women's Six Nations title
England claimed a seventh successive Guinness Women's Six Nations title but subjected Allianz Stadium to a white knuckle ride in a ragged 43-42 victory over France. The Red Roses raced to a 31-7 lead inside half an hour with Emma Sing crossing twice, but their early conviction vanished as France woke up to the opportunity before them in this Grand Slam decider. Advertisement England's early onslaught of tries had provided enough of a cushion to weather the fightback staged by the underdogs, who thrived off a sharp offloading game from their forwards and ingenuity in attack. It completed a fourth consecutive Grand Slam and registered their 55th win in 56 Tests, but there were frailties on show across the park that will encourage their rivals ahead of the home World Cup in August and September. CHAMPIONS ONCE AGAIN 🏆 The unstoppable: Red Roses! #GuinnessW6N | #RedRoses — Red Roses (@RedRosesRugby) April 26, 2025 Most glaring of all was the volume of missed tackles, especially out wide, and head coach John Mitchell will be seeking answers as to why they collapsed into such a disjointed mess having started like a freight train. By the 24th minute they looked assured of victory having amassed five tries and hardly putting a foot wrong. Advertisement Sharp handling from the excellent Megan Jones sent Sing over for two tries, enabling the rookie full-back to settle her nerves having made a shaky start while deputising for hamstring-injury victim Ellis Kildunne. The Red Roses' maul was also a potent weapon, leading directly to a touch down for Lark Atkin-Davies but also repeatedly driving France backwards to create space in attack. Emma Sing crossed twice for the Red Roses (Adam Davy/PA) Wings Abby Dow and Claudia MacDonald each went over as forward power was mixed with a cutting edge out wide, much of it facilitated by Jones' selfless play at outside centre. But England lost their way, unable to sustain the ferocious pace they had set while also forcing play, with Zoe Harrison's dropped pass behind her line gifting Pauline Bourdon an opportunistic try. Advertisement It was a howler from Harrison that had let the underdogs back into the game, but the fly-half had otherwise produced a tidy first half including setting up Dow's try with a clever kick. France struck even though prop Assia Khalfaoui was in the sin bin for a dangerous tackle, and having seen their defence spring leaks freely, they rallied to finish the half with a flourish. They showed their feel for attack to cross again through Marine Menager and suddenly it was the hosts who were on the ropes, their lead cut to 10 points and momentum firmly against them. TITLE RETAINED 🏆 The Red Roses have won the #GuinnessW6N for the seventh time in a row! 🤩 #ENGvFRA | @Womens6Nations — Red Roses (@RedRosesRugby) April 26, 2025 Wing Joanna Grisez scythed through the Red Roses with alarming ease but they responded magnificently with Harrison's show and go sending Zoe Aldcroft over. Advertisement England continued to miss tackles with Sing especially guilty to invite Kelly Arbey over for the visitors' fourth try – all of which had been converted by Morgane Bourgeois. Sustained pressure in France's 22 led to Dow's second try but they just could not close out the game and their defence cracked once again, Bourgeois doing the damage after her side had skilfully kept the ball alive. Sing stepped up with a try-saving tackle but no one could stop Grisez marauding over in the right corner, but time had run out for France to engineer the winning score.
Telegraph
26-04-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Zoe Aldcroft calmness personified in face of French pressure
The loudest roar from the Twickenham crowd on a warm and muggy afternoon did not greet any of England's seven tries. Nor did it celebrate a critical defensive turnover or urge a driving maul to eat up more metres. Instead, it arrived in the 79th minute as the Red Roses walked slowly up the pitch to restart the match for one final phase with France threatening to snap a run of 25 consecutive wins and poop a Grand Slam party that had been revelling in the April sunshine for a few hours. England, to their credit, responded with clear heads and an obvious plan that had been devised by Zoe Aldcroft and their other leaders. Zoe Harrison struck the ball long, allowing Abby Dow to sweep a white blanket of chasers up to the opposition 22. Seemingly liberated for so much of the second period, France suddenly clammed up. A horrible mix-up between Taina Maka and Lina Queyroi coughed up possession and ended the match, capping a seventh consecutive title. John Mitchell might have wanted a clean catch, just to test the mettle of his charges and run another tricky training scenario. Notwithstanding a bitty display that left them rather fortunate to prevail with victory here, England are a special team with a special skipper. On the spot for the last mistake, just behind Dow, was Aldcroft. She managed to stay on her feet, yet seemed understandably spent. Amid the chaos of a wild game, the 28-year-old had been a pillar of excellence. 🏆🤩 2025 Guinness Women's Six Nations Champions! #GuinnessW6N @RedRosesRugby — Guinness Women's Six Nations (@Womens6Nations) April 26, 2025 Almost two hours previously, Aldcroft had set the tone for England's pristine start by rising to pluck the kick-off out of the sky. Such skills are made to look routine by the 2021 World Player of the Year, who finished with a staggering 20 tackles and a fine solo try as part of a performance that oozed class and calm. Subtle moments away from the television cameras are often where one discerns the true character of a team and another instant during the first period underscored Aldcroft's status as an indispensable focal point for England. It occurred just before the half-hour mark just after Pauline Bourdon-Sansus pounced on a fumble from Harrison to score the visitors' second try. Harrison stared at Natasha Hunt, who had sent a pass skidding toward her toes, bringing about a spill that cost seven points. Any lingering frustration was eased in an instant by Aldcroft, who lifted both hands above her head to assemble her colleagues under the posts and refocus them. Aldcroft would need to repeat the ploy on several occasions over a frenetic 80 minutes, because England conceded six tries and committed a litany of errors. Make no mistake, this was a warning for the Red Roses. Their defence was lacerated in different ways; both up the middle by France's up-the-guts offloading flow and also when more width was put on the ball. Kelly Arbey, Joanna Grisez and Morgane Bourgeois were brilliant across the back three and left England reeling. When they dwell on the positive aspects of this match, Mitchell and his players can be assured that they produced flashes of their very best in attack. In the 49th minute, one such passage saw Dow freed on the right flank from a long Harrison pass. Two phases later, via Alex Matthews' direct carry, Harrison sold a dummy before dancing into space. As the last defender came into view, Aldcroft surged onto her fly-half's left shoulder and had the strength to stretch over despite the efforts of a scrambling Bourdon-Sansus. 🤩 Captain Fantastic! Zoe Aldcroft crosses the line for @RedRosesRugby 💪 #GuinnessW6N — Guinness Women's Six Nations (@Womens6Nations) April 26, 2025 A 38-21 cushion proved invaluable because England played as if the shadow of the World Cup was hindering them. The psychology of this tournament will have been uniquely challenging, no doubt. Now, after the celebrations, they can steady themselves. Among the most punchy and significant selection calls made by Mitchell since he succeeded Simon Middleton as head coach was his decision to switch the captaincy from Marlie Packer to Aldcroft back in January. There are more to come, of course. Mitchell will have to omit some excellent players when he whittles down his final squad this summer. But as long as he has Aldcroft as his on-field leader, the Red Roses can remain confident of World Cup glory.
Telegraph
20-04-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Wales v Ireland: Score and latest Women's Six Nations updates
2:30PM Wales' results and fixtures Scotland 24-21 Wales Wales 12-67 England France 42-12 Wales Wales vs Ireland (today) Italy vs Wales (next weekend) 2:26PM Visitors arriving We've arrived in sunny Newport! 👋 #IrishRugby — Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) April 20, 2025 2:20PM Inside the home dressing room 📸 𝘽𝙧𝙤𝙣 𝙮𝙣 𝙖𝙢𝙨𝙚𝙧 🏴 1️⃣ Hour to KO 💪 #GuinnessW6N — Welsh Rugby Union 🏴 (@WelshRugbyUnion) April 20, 2025 2:15PM Table as it stands England- 20 points (4 games) France- 19 points (4 games) Ireland- 5 points (3 games) Italy- 5 points (4 games) Scotland- 4 points (4 games) Wales- 1 point (3 games) 2:10PM This weekend's fixtures Yesterday: Italy 21-34 France England 59-7 Scotland Today: Wales vs Ireland 2:04PM Teams Wales starting XV: Jasmine Joyce; Lisa Neumann, Hannah Jones (capt), Courtney Keight, Carys Cox; Lleucu George, Keira Bevan; Gwenllian Pyrs, Kelsey Jones, Jenni Scoble, Abbie Fleming, Georgia Evans, Kate Williams, Bethan Lewis, Alex Callender. Replacements: Carys Phillips, Maisie Davies, Donna Rose, Natalia John, Alaw Pyrs, Sian Jones, Hannah Bluck, Catherine Richards. Ireland starting XV: Stacey Flood; Anna McGann, Aoife Dalton, Enya Breen, Amee-Leigh; Dannah O'Brien, Molly Scuffil-McCabe; Siobhán McCarthy, Neve Jones, Linda Djougang, Ruth Campbell, Dorothy Wall, Brittany Hogan, Edel McMahon (capt), Aoife Wafer. Replacements: Cliodhna Moloney, Sadhbh McGrath, Christy Haney, Fiona Tuite, Claire Boles, Emily Lane, Eve Higgins, Vicky Elmes Kinlan. 1:57PM Match preview Wales welcome Ireland to Rodney Parade in Newport in the hope of securing their first win in this year's Six Nations. For the hosts it has been three straight defeats and just one bonus point from their opening three games, which leaves them bottom of the table. They lost narrowly at Scotland on the opening weekend but have fallen to heavy back-to-back defeats against the two best sides; England and France. If they were to finish bottom of the table, it would be consecutive wooden spoons for Wales, who are currently 10 th in the world rankings. Their head coach Sean Lynn, who has recently taken over the Welsh side after leading Gloucester-Hartpury to three Women's Premiership titles, has spoken about the challenges of facing this Irish side. 'One thing which Ireland will bring is that energy and work rate, but we can bring that too. That is something that I am asking these players, 'let's match their energy, let's match their work rate and physicality' and then it could be a tight game. I definitely have [seen improvements]. The big thing for me is collision dominance, attack and defence, and getting better at it. Second half against France, we are making line-breaks, but to be in this championship and be a better team we have to be capitalising on these line-breaks.' Meanwhile Ireland, who are currently the fifth best side in the world, have one win from their first three games to leave them in third place. They lost at home to France in their opener but then responded with a dominant win in Italy. They did lose at home to England last time out. Ireland head coach Scott Bemand wants to see his side back up their away win at Italy earlier in the competition with another win on the road today. 'I live fairly close and grew up next to Wales and I understand what it is like to play in Wales. It is an unbelievable experience. They are passionate about their rugby. We have said we want to go after winning games away from home because that is going to be a massive part of a World Cup. 'Backing the Italy piece up this week and taking the green wave over there is going to be a massive for us. Playing away from home you have got the noise, the atmosphere, the occasion and we have got to learn to deal with it and get excited by it. We are still a young group, I have seen nothing in the eyes but good energy to get over there and get the job done, but we know it is not going to be easy, it is going to come with challenges and we are fully ready for that.' Last year Ireland won 36-5 in Cork but when these sides met in Cardiff in 2023, Wales won 31-5, which means each side have three wins apiece in the last six meetings. Ireland have won ten of their last 13 Six Nations matches against Wales. Kick-off from Rodney Parade is at 3pm.
Telegraph
19-04-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
England v Scotland: Score and latest Women's Six Nations updates
19 April 2025 4:19pm 4:19PM Previous encounters 2024: Scotland 0-46 England 2023: England 58-7 Scotland 2022: Scotland 5-57 England 2021: England 52-10 Scotland 2020: Scotland 0-53 England 2019: England 80-0 Scotland 2018: Scotland 8-43 England 4:14PM Injuries for the visitors It's not that this match is a foregone conclusion but... England are on a 23-match winning streak against Scotland, who are missing a number of key personnel for today's match. Rachel Malcolm, their experienced captain, and Leia Brebner-Holden, their first-choice scrum-half, are both out with concussion. Alex Stewart and Hollie Cunningham are also unavailable due to unspecified injuries, meaning Scotland's bench is looking abnormally light on experience. Bryan Easson, the Scotland head coach, has opted for 5-3 split today - having fielded 6-2 splits in each of the last three rounds - but his unhelpfully long injury list has forced him to have a major rethink. Hartpury back-row Gemma Bell, who only joined Scotland's camp a few days ago, is one of three uncapped players on the bench. To put Scotland's lack of experience into context, Sarah Bern, Abbie Ward and Marlie Packer each have more caps individually than Scotland's entire bench combined. 4:09PM Scotland's results and fixtures Scotland 24-21 Wales France 38-15 Scotland Scotland 17-25 Italy England vs Scotland (today) Scotland vs Ireland (next weekend) 4:04PM Visitors in the house In the building 🏟️ #AsOne — Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) April 19, 2025 4:01PM England's results and fixtures in this Six Nations England 38-5 Italy Wales 12-67 England Ireland 5-49 England England vs Scotland (today) England vs France (next weekend) 3:55PM Current table France- 19 points (4 games) England- 15 points (3 games) Ireland- 5 points (3 games) Italy- 5 points (4 games) Scotland- 4 points (3 games) Wales- 1 point (3 games) 3:49PM Hosts arrive What a welcome in Leicester 😍 #ENGvSCO #GuinnessW6N — Red Roses (@RedRosesRugby) April 19, 2025 3:42PM Teams England starting XV: Ellie Kildunne (Harlequins); Abby Dow (Ealing Trailfinders), Megan Jones (Leicester Tigers), Jade Shekells (Gloucester-Hartpury), Claudia MacDonald (Exeter Chiefs); Holly Aitchison (Bristol Bears), Lucy Packer (Harlequins); Kelsey Clifford (Saracens), Lark Atkin-Davies (Bristol Bears), Sarah Bern (Bristol Bears), Rosie Galligan (Saracens), Abbie Ward (Bristol Bears), Zoe Aldcroft (Gloucester-Hartpury, captain), Marlie Packer (Saracens), Maddie Feaunati (Exeter Chiefs). Replacements: May Campbell (Saracens), Hannah Botterman (Bristol Bears), Maud Muir (Gloucester-Hartpury), Morwenna Talling (Sale Sharks), Alex Matthews (Gloucester-Hartpury), Natasha Hunt (Gloucester-Hartpury), Helena Rowland (Loughborough Lightning), Emily Scarratt (Loughborough Lightning). Scotland starting XV: Chloe Rollie (Ealing Trailfinders); Rhona Lloyd (Stade Bordelais), Emma Orr (Bristol Bears), Lisa Thomson (Ealing Trailfinders), Francesca McGhie (Leicester Tigers); Helen Nelson (Loughborough Lightning, captain), Caity Mattinson (Ealing Trailfinders); Anne Young (Loughborough Lightning), Lana Skeldon (Bristol Bears), Elliann Clarke (Bristol Bears), Becky Boyd (Loughborough Lightning), Sarah Bonar (Harlequins), Evie Gallagher (Bristol Bears), Rachel McLachlan (Montpellier), Jade Konkel (Harlequins). Replacements: Elis Martin (Loughborough Lightning), Leah Bartlett (Leicester Tigers), Molly Poolman (Edinburgh), Adelle Ferrie (Edinburgh), Gemma Bell (Gloucester-Hartpury), Rhea Clarke (Edinburgh Rugby), Rachel Philipps (Sale Sharks), Lucia Scott (Gloucester-Hartpury). 3:36PM Match preview England host Scotland at Mattioli Woods Welford Road in round four of the Women's Six Nations. England are aiming for a seventh successive title and have won three from three so far with bonus points secured in all three games. They began their campaign with a 38-5 home win over Italy before thrashing Wales 12-67 in Cardiff on matchday two. In game three they won 5-49 over in Ireland to put them at the top of the standings, one point ahead of France. Their winning run now spans 23 games and they have won 53 of their last 54 Test matches, with their last defeat coming in the 2022 World Cup final against New Zealand. With a home World Cup on the horizon later this year, every game takes on added importance not only in attempting to win yet another Six Nations title but also acting as preparation for the biggest prize. Abbie Ward, who starts for England this afternoon, has spoken this week about the pressure on England every time they go out to play. 'We know teams will always step up against us to knock us off. We are happy with that and take it in our stride,' Ward told BBC's Rugby Union Weekly. 'England will always have pressure. It is not going anywhere. Success is not about results or points difference, it is about the performance. It is also about team cohesion. We have had some good results but also some sticky performances. We want to keep growing that team cohesion and the ability to grow our game plan.' Former England captain Marlie Packer, who was replaced as captain by Zoe Aldcroft at the start of the year, comes back into the team today and Ward has been singing the praises of the Saracens forward. 'Marlie is a fantastic leader and always will be, whether she is wearing the armband or not,' said Ward. 'She was always an incredible leader before, she has stepped up so naturally, nothing has changed. Whether she is playing or not, Marlie is always inputting. She is always helping the squad get better. Even if she is not on the pitch, she brings her experience, that energy and that ferocity, but she also has this other side where she brings a calmness to the squad. She has been in tough games, she has been on the sides of huge wins and also losses. That is just invaluable to us. When she brings that ferocity, that energy, the aggression that we need, we feed off [that] as a team.' Meanwhile Scotland are in fifth, with just one win to their name after three games. They won their opening game against Wales but have fallen to back-to-back defeats against France and Italy in their next two games. Their head coach Bryan Easson is aware of just how big a challenge is facing his side today. 'England have the ability to go through you physically, they also have the ability to go round you,' said Easson. 'They can suffocate you defensively. They have such a good team, one to 15, or should I say one to 40. No matter what changes they make, they have world class players coming in. It is a huge task but one we are certainly up for. We were really disappointed with our performance against Italy so this is an opportunity to put that to bed and for this group to show the progress we have made.' England have won all 23 Six Nations meetings with Scotland, the past five encounters settled by an aggregate score of 266-22. Last year England won 48-0 in Edinburgh. It appears things are destined for a Grand Slam-decider against France at Allianz Stadium next weekend but England need to make sure they get the job done today to set that up.
