Opta Facts: Women’s Six Nations – Ireland v England

– England have won each of their last eight Guinness Women’s Six Nations matches against Ireland, including their most recent by a margin of 78 points (88-10), which was their largest against Ireland since their first Championship meeting in 2002 (79-0)

– Ireland’s two victories over England in the Women’s Six Nations came at Ashbourne Rugby Club in County Meath, a 25-0 win in 2013 and an 11-8 triumph in 2015. Those are the two years which saw Ireland lift the Championship trophy

– England have won their last 31 matches in the Women’s Six Nations, a run which started against Ireland in the final round of the 2018 campaign

– England have scored an average of 8.2 tries per game during this run, and managed an average victory margin of 44 points

– This will be Ireland’s fifth Women’s Six Nations match at Virgin Media Park, where they have enjoyed wins over Italy (29-8, 2022) and Wales (36-5, 2024), but also suffered defeats to France (53-3, 2023) and England (48-0, 2023)

– England have registered a try-scoring bonus point by half-time in each of their last four Women’s Six Nations games, their best such run since also doing so in 2020-2021

– Ireland also managed to bag a bonus point before the break against Italy in round 2, something they had not managed in the Championship since their 2021 visit to Wales

– There have been 14 lineouts stolen in total in the 2025 tournament so far. Eight of those have been poached by England, twice as many as any other team. They are also the only side to have a 100% success rate on their own throw (28/28)

– England (2.75 seconds) and Ireland (2.77 seconds) have the fastest average attacking ruck speeds of anyone in this year’s Women’s Six Nations

– England and Ireland have also managed to slow down opposition ball better than anyone else, restricting their opponents to average speeds of 3.42 seconds and 3.86 seconds respectively

– Ireland have made the most post-contact (730) and in-contact metres (451) of any team in the 2025 Championship

– Individually, Aoife Wafer tops the charts for in-contact metres (69), and is one of three players win 100+ post-contact metres (105, also Scotland’s Francesca McGhie 141, and Wafer’s team-mate Anna McGann 104)

– McGann and England’s Ellie Kildunne are the top try scorers after the opening two rounds, both crossing three times so far

– Of the 63 players to make 10+ carries, only Scotland’s Emma Orr (62%) has a better tackle evasion rate than Kildunne (57%). McGann ranks sixth for this metric (47%)

– Ireland’s Erin King has hit the most attacking rucks (60) and joint-most defensive rucks (19) in the 2025 Women’s Six Nations. She has also accumulated the fourth most carries (24) and joint-most lineout takes (16, including steals, also England’s Zoe Aldcroft)