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

England's Grand Slam decider against France last year was played in front of a crowd of 37,573 at Allianz Stadium 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 Na