The first 40 minutes of the Women's Six Nations was, at best, a half for the purists. Estelle Sartini, a PE teacher from Caen, kicked the only points as France, one of the favourites for the inaugural title, headed for the dressing rooms with a 3-0 lead over Spain. That was in 1996. This year marks the 25th edition of the competition. The game has changed dramatically—but has it been for the better?
Does increased athleticism and tactical nous risk losing the distinctive character of the women's game? Simon Middleton, England's head coach for eight years until 2023, witnessed the transformation firsthand. "The women's game doesn't want to be the men's game—and that's how it should be," he said.
Points Win Prizes
The 2025 Women's Six Nations was the highest scoring ever, averaging 55.9 points per game. This is part of a trend, not an anomaly. The five highest-scoring tournaments have all occurred since 2019. After two rounds of this season, the average stands at 58 points per game—on track for another record. But is it simply because England, world champions and seven-time defending champions, are running amok? The Red Roses have indeed been dominant: they racked up winning margins of 55 and 52 points against Wales and Scotland last year, and this year they beat Ireland by 21 and Scotland by 77. Yet even without England's results, teams are scoring more. Excluding the Red Roses, the 2025 tournament still averaged a record 51.2 points per match, matching the 2021 high.
The growth in points has outstripped the rise in winning margins. In 2007, when Italy first joined, the average points per match was just under 30—nearly half of the 2025 figure. The average winning margin has risen only slightly, from 19.5 points to 25.4 over the same period. This year's average winning margin is higher at 34 points, but an incomplete fixture list makes it an imperfect comparison.
Kicks and Decreased Recovery Time
That record high in points has come despite teams keeping the ball in hand less. Over the past five years, kicks have risen steadily from an average of 26.1 per game in 2021 to 44.7 in 2025. Kick metres have doubled. Middleton explained: "I certainly was blessed with England when I came in, because I had so many really technically good players who could kick the ball really well—Emily Scarratt, Katy Daley-Mclean and others—and that fit perfectly with how we wanted to play. Other teams didn't have that for a long time. The whole staffing group level has risen significantly across all nations, with an increase in coaching standards and tactical awareness of playing a territory-based game rather than possession-based. Over the last four or five years, many teams have shaped their key players to fit that. You look at Dannah O'Brien—she's got a fantastic kicking game and Ireland built their game around her, kick-chasing from inside their own half. Wales with Lleucu George and Keira Bevan play a very kick-dominated game. During my time with England, France became a team that kicked more than we did. Two things have changed—the game understanding and the technical ability of players to play that way."
Teams are using the boot more, putting the ball behind defences sooner rather than playing through multiple phases in search of an opening. The share of possessions with five or more phases has dropped year-on-year since 2020. However, those passages of play are coming quicker: 62.8% of rucks were completed in under three seconds in last year's competition, up 10% from 2020. That rapid-fire ruck speed was also a feature of the Women's Rugby World Cup last year, with Canada and England both getting through 45% of their rucks in less than two seconds in their semi-finals—quicker than the average men's Test side. In 2021, England's equivalent figure was only 21%.
"High ruck speed delivers momentum, quick ball is good attacking ball, cutting down the defence's time to organise," Middleton says. "These are all things we know, but I think there are a couple of things at the root of the game getting faster. Firstly, there is the technical development in players—body position in the clear out and the like—but also, and probably just as significant if not more so, there is the physical capacity of players now to go again and again and again. There are some tremendous athletes out there."
Perhaps the most predictable change coinciding with professionalisation has been at the set-piece. Line-outs and scrums are becoming more reliable for all teams, with success rates of 89% and 95% respectively in last year's tournament. Goal-kicking, a repeatable skill benefiting from training time, is also up, with a 70.1% success rate representing a post-pandemic high. Kickers are landing more from out wide too: their success rate from within 10m of the touchline was 41% in 2025, another rise on the previous five years.
More reliable goal-kickers and a greater emphasis on kicking out of hand has made the women's game closer to the men's in some respects. Middleton warns that it needs to keep some of its catch-pass creativity and distinct difference. "It is a different type of brand and it's played for a different type of audience and I don't think a game too heavily based on kicking will suit it," he said. "That's fine coming from me and the way we played! But if everybody goes down the route of being really tactical and playing territory rather than possession, being really prescriptive, rather than with heads up and eyes open, you could see a lot of ball being kicked away and the ball pinging back and forth and nobody really wants to see that."