The question before the Women’s Six Nations was whether someone could break England’s stranglehold on world rugby. After two games, the Red Roses haven’t missed a beat.
That’s despite injuries and pregnancies leading to a transition period not seen in a decade. However, the depth of Red Rose’s strength seems limitless.
A long list of absentees, led by World Cup-winning captain Zoe Stratford (née Aldcroft), meant England found themselves at a disadvantage in their first game on Round 1 against Ireland, but they still had plenty of reserves to overcome the challenge.
The world champions went into their second round visit at Murrayfield again without 10 players, but scored 12 tries to seal a record 84-7 victory over Scotland and their 35th successive Test win.
England face Wales in the third round at Ashton Gate in Bristol on Saturday, but ahead of the match two players from vastly different stages of their Test careers spoke to the media. They are 28-year-old World Cup-winning prop Sarah Byrne (81 caps) and 19-year-old back-rower Demelza Short, who made her Test debut in Edinburgh last weekend.
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Red Roses captain Meg Jones talks about emotional video of three Red Roses attending Six Nations camp while pregnant
“We really mixed it up,” Byrne said. “We obviously had some great players in the squad, so that opened the door for players like Demelza and some of the younger players to come in. Then we had some more injuries, so things are changing very quickly.”
“But a lot of it is, ‘This is my license to attack, to grow, to be myself, to be brave, to show what I can do.’” That’s how you attack.
“Whether you’re new or you’ve been a Red Rose a few times, we have incredibly high standards.
Bern has scored back-to-back tries in both matches against Ireland at Twickenham and Scotland at Murrayfield.
“We’re always asked, ‘Are you ever tired of winning?’ And actually, when I ask the girls, I still don’t think we’ve had a performance that we’re very proud of.
“That’s what we want to think about every week. How can we develop our game? How can we grow it? How can we push to be the best in everything, the best in attack, the best in defense? It may seem like an impossible task, but it’s in the DNA of the Red Roses to keep trying and pushing the boundaries of what we can really do.”
“The message from all of us is that rugby doesn’t care what you did last week. It doesn’t care if you won the World Cup. It’s how you show up on the day that matters.”
“Part of the challenge is helping young players like Demelza and a few other players get acclimated and get up to speed as quickly as possible.”
Despite a sluggish start to the Championship against Ireland, England secured victory and earned 84 points against Scotland.
In fact, the changes are so big for England and the absence of players means they are forced to add even more depth.
It’s a scenario that’s going well so far.
“We are ambitious and we are brave,” Bern added. “We want to push those walls. Sure we won the World Cup and that was great, but I think we recognize that we definitely could have improved our attack and now is the opportunity to do that.”
“The progress of the players has definitely accelerated with a few injuries and we all understand that everyone has to work. Everyone has to attack the same way and that requires a lot of effort off the pitch.”
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“There’s been a lot of conversation and the leaders are making sure people know their details so that when you get on the rugby pitch in a training session, if you don’t know that, it’s pretty tough. All the players here have been helping each other.”
“This is an opportunity. And it’s going to be more exciting. We want people to come to the stadium. If they see the same thing every week, it won’t be interesting for them, so we want to entertain.”
“We want to show that all of the Red Roses have a great ability to carry, defend and play an exciting style of rugby and we want to showcase that to the world.
“We need to continue to push it forward, show our individuality and show that women’s rugby is a great game to watch. It’s different than men’s rugby. They each have their own selling points, but they’re both equally entertaining.”
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Short: I played college rugby a year ago and I don’t think I’ll ever really understand what happened.
In the past 12 months, Short has gone from playing 70 minutes for England’s Under-18s at the Six Nations Festival at Wellington College to becoming a fully-fledged Red Rose member alongside recent World Cup winners.
“I don’t think I’ll ever really accept what happened. I don’t think it’s real yet. It’s crazy. It’s been a whirlwind for me.
“It’s not completely gone yet, but as the weeks go by it’s getting a little bit more normal, but not as much as normal.
Short went from being an U18 rugby player to being a full Red Roses player in the space of a year.
“I’m not entirely sure when I realized something like this could happen, because I only played with the U18s last year.
“Right after that, when I got selected for the U20 camp, I thought maybe I could go somewhere, but obviously not this season, probably next season.
“Then I was called up to the Red Roses so early and I thought I might be able to make my debut in this campaign and I managed to make it, so it’s really crazy.”
England 2026 Women’s Six Nations fixtures
England 33-12 Ireland (April 11) – Allianz Stadium, Twickenham Scotland 7-84 England (April 18) – Murrayfield, Edinburgh v Wales (Saturday, April 25) – Bristol, Ashton Gate (2.15pm) vs Italy (Saturday, May 9) – Parma, Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi (3pm) vs France (Sunday 17 May) – Stade Atlantique, Bordeaux (5:45pm)
