Women’s Six Nations 2026: Will this be the biggest tournament ever?

More eyes are on women’s rugby than ever before.

Following a highly successful Rugby World Cup last year, supporter numbers in the UK climbed from 7.94m pre-existing fans of women’s rugby to 13.21m, according to research commissioned by BBC Sport.

England’s victory over Canada in September’s final took place in front of 81,885 fans at Allianz Stadium – a record for a women’s rugby match and the second-highest attendance for a men’s or women’s World Cup final.

It was the most-watched women’s rugby match on UK television, with a record-breaking peak audience of 5.8m viewers. It also beat both the Six Nations and the British and Irish Lions’ winning tour of Australia to become the most-watched rugby match of last year.

Rugby union was the second most-watched women’s sport in 2025, so with momentum at an all-time high, this year’s Women’s Six Nations is set to be comfortably the biggest yet in terms of crowd numbers.

Pre-tournament demand has already broken records, with all four home nations staging fixtures at their national stadiums.

The record crowd for a Women’s Six Nations game is 58,498 for the Grand Slam decider between England and France in 2023.

That record is set to fall, with more than 75,000 tickets sold for England’s opener against Ireland at Allianz Stadium on Saturday.

“There is probably a line of thinking that audiences will just keep growing, but they are actually hard to maintain,” Rugby Football Union director of women’s rugby Alex Teasdale told BBC Sport.

“The role of the Red Roses as ambassadors has helped sustain some of that strong buy-in, and the fans have had a brilliant time.

“It has been really pleasing to see, but anyone involved in women’s sport knows it is not a given.

“You have to work hard to give fans a brilliant experience so they want to keep coming back.”

Scotland will play their first Women’s Six Nations match in front of fans at Murrayfield when they host England next weekend.

Scotland women’s record home attendance of 7,774 was set at Hive Stadium in 2024, but more than 25,000 tickets have been sold for the fixture.

The expected record crowd will be the biggest for a standalone women’s sporting event in Scotland.

Ireland’s game against Scotland on the final weekend will be their first at the 51,711-capacity Aviva Stadium and their record home attendance of 7,754 is set to be smashed, with more than 16,000 tickets already reported to have been sold.

Wales, who play Scotland at Principality Stadium on the opening weekend, are aiming to better last year’s record crowd of 21,186 for a Wales women’s team event on home soil.

Meanwhile, France will host England at the 42,115-capacity Stade Atlantique in Bordeaux in the final round, where they will hope to have a full house for a possible Grand Slam decider.

But will the entertainment on the pitch match the clamour for tickets?