For the first time in women’s rugby history, Ireland shocked the world by defeating the Black Ferns, the defending champions of the Women’s Rugby World Cup. This victory marked a new beginning in Six Nations women’s rugby accolades.
Ireland produced a stunning upset by defeating the reigning world champions, New Zealand, 29-27 in their WXV opener in Wellington.
The victory marks one of Ireland’s most significant wins in women’s rugby history, especially considering the Black Ferns’ dominance on the global stage. After their third-placed finish in this year’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations, the team is on a distinct upward curve.
Last year’s finish by the women’s side was a massive step for the Irish fans loyal to Six Nations tickets.
The win in New Zealand is ranked as one of the highest achievements by Irish women. This win will undoubtedly amplify the demand for the Women’s Six Nations tickets that will kick off in less than four months.
New Zealand opened the scoring on nine minutes as hooker Atlanta Lolohea touched down at the back of a driving maul. But Ireland replied quickly as flanker Aoife Wafer, featured in the 2024 Guinness Women’s Six Nations Team of the Championship, barged her way over the line from close range.
A Renee Holmes penalty extended New Zealand’s lead to 10-5 before Wafer grabbed her second score, peeling away from the base of an attacking scrum to burrow over. O’Brien put Ireland in front with the conversion, and their advantage became a seven-point one when hooker Neve Jones was awarded a try after referee Sara Cox consulted with TMO Ian Tempest.
O’Brien was off-target with the subsequent conversion. New Zealand were on level terms by half-time when wing Katelyn Vahaakolo supplied the finish, and Holmes kicked her second conversion. Midway through the second half, a Holmes penalty edged her side in front while Niamh O’Dowd was in the sin-bin, but Ireland replied with the next points when they were restored to their full complement of 15 players.
More good work from Wafer helped King go over for her first score before Mererangi Paul stretched to touch down and put New Zealand ahead again. With time almost up on the clock, however, King rumbled over from close range again to level at 27-27. O’Brien kept her composure to deliver the winning additional two points from the tee.
Irish head coach Scott Bemand praised his team, calling it a landmark moment for Irish women’s rugby. This victory sets a strong tone for Ireland in the WXV competition, with fixtures against Canada and the USA.
This development from Ireland is a good move towards improving the women’s Six Nations game. It will help create more competitive action on the field and, in return, increase the sale of Six Nations tickets.
Women’s Six Nations – Wales Kick Off Against England
Wales will host England at Principality Stadium when the sides meet in the 2025 Women’s Six Nations.
The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) hopes the fixture against the defending champions on Saturday, 29 March, will again break the attendance record for a stand-alone women’s Test in Wales.
It stands at the 10,592 who watched Wales play Italy in the finale of the 2024 Six Nations.
Wales will also travel to Newport’s Rodney Parade for next year’s championship when they play Ireland on Sunday, 20 April.
Wales have previously played home games at Cardiff Arms Park.
WRU chief executive Abi Tierney said it was “phenomenal” to see the women’s side run out at the national stadium earlier this year.
“It’s an ambitious move for Wales Women to face England at Principality Stadium, but with the level of support the fans show this team, we’re confident we can beat our home attendance record,” she said.
“Returning to Rodney Parade after such a striking debut win over Australia in the WXV warm-up earlier this month will be a huge boost too.”
Meanwhile, Wales hooker Carys Phillips has signed a new contract with Harlequins Women.
The 31-year-old, who has been capped 76 times by her country, joined the London club in November 2023 following the collapse of Worcester Warriors Women.
Six Nations tickets for the games will be available soon.
Disappointment Continues for Wales
In a week when the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) showered us with positive news on the women’s game, the players suffered a chastening Cape Town defeat against Australia.
In the wake of 37 full-time contracts and a flagship game at the Principality Stadium against England to look forward to in the Six Nations, Wales understandably went into their WXV2 opener against the Wallaroos with their tails up.
And who can blame them? They had beaten their opposition for the first time in their history just eight days earlier, running out 31-24 winners in a nail-biter warm-up game at Rodney Parade.
The Welsh camp had emphasized the importance of following up on that performance this week, but they were the first to admit post-match that they lost the physical battle.
They also suffered their worst Wallaroos defeat, as the gold and greens ran riot in a devastating second-half blitz that saw Wales lose 37-5.
Wales had a six-day turnaround before they faced Six Nations rivals Italy on Friday, who lost their opener 19-0 to Scotland.
Wales’ preparations had been far from ideal. Not only did they have less than a week to acclimatize to Cape Town, but they also traveled without one of their star players.
Sisilia Tuipulotu was left behind in the UK after what the WRU called an “administrative oversight” in her visa.
Ioan Cunningham was also forced to reshuffle his matchday 23 team after Kate Williams and Hannah Jones suffered knocks in training.
But the head coach made no excuses: “It’s the same for Australia as well; we both played last Friday and did the same amount of traveling.
“We’ve got to look at ourselves, dust ourselves off, review the game, and learn quickly because we’ve got a short turnaround.
“Disruption in the week doesn’t help; it happened last week with three players, and it happened this week with two players, but it’s part of what we do; we pick up little injuries, and we just have to adjust and react the best we can. That’s why we’ve got a squad, and we back everyone in our squad.
“Credit to Australia; they changed their intensity in the last 25 minutes and pulled away from us.”
