England defence coach Sarah Hunter cannot wait for the world champion Red Roses to return to action at this year’s Women’s Six Nations. Over five months have passed since England last played, when they breezed past Canada 33-13 in front of a sold-out Allianz Stadium at Twickenham to win the 2025 Rugby World Cup.

It was a tournament that turned players such as Ellie Kildunne, Zoe Aldcroft and Sadia Kabeya into household names and fans won’t have to wait too much longer to see them return to the field in their familiar white jerseys. Their Six Nations campaign will begin with a home clash against Ireland on April 11 which is set to host a championship-record crowd at Twickenham, with over 60,000 tickets already sold, as women’s rugby continues to reach new heights.

Hunter – England’s record appearance-maker with 141 caps - said: “It’s like getting the band back together. We had a camp in January which was about dusting the World Cup off so that when we come in at the end of March, we can really start attacking the Six Nations.

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“There are new coaches and different players – retired players come and go, so we know there will be a bit of an unknown to it, but we’re super excited. We love the Six Nations and we just want to get to the game against Ireland and get off to a good start there, then hopefully go on to France and see what happens down there.”

In the years in which it was contested (2021 being the exception), England have won six consecutive Grand Slams, making it no surprise that they head into the Six Nations as odds-on favourites to do so again. A campaign that takes in facing Scotland at Murrayfield will end with a trip to Bordeaux on May 17 when they take on a France side who will almost certainly be their closest challengers and who ran them hard in last year’s World Cup semi-final which finished 35-17 in the Red Roses’ favour.

Hunter said: “France away was always one of my favourite games to play in and it’s very much like that as a coach. It’s a hostile place to go, in a great way. The atmosphere is brilliant and hopefully we’ll be going there to win the Six Nations, but they’ve got a new coach, Francois Ratier, who was in charge of Canada in the World Cup final in 2014.

“He’s been with Bordeaux-Begles and won a championship there and he’s a very experienced coach, so they’ll be unknown in some respects of how they play. We’ll know a bit more about them by the time we get there, but it’ll be a great opportunity to go and challenge ourselves against one of the best teams in the world.”

Hunter was speaking at the 2026 Youth Sport Awards, which spotlighted the dedicated and innovative approaches from schools, trusts, and individuals who have used the power of sport to make a positive impact on children’s health and wellbeing throughout the year. Hunter said: “It’s massively important to reward the grassroots level of sport.

“It’s recognition for all the hard work that they’ve done through the year, but for most of these teachers and sports co-ordinators it’s not just this year, it’s over multiple years that they’ve embedded sport into their community. Without grassroots sport – and I’m speaking now as an international coach – we don’t have a game, we don’t have that pipeline for our future sport stars, whether that be rugby, football or athletics. Having started rugby at school, I know how important it is to reward and recognise the hard work that quite often goes unseen.”

The Youth Sport Trust Annual Conference Awards, sponsored by Sports Directory and Outdoor Play and Learning, celebrate schools, settings, trusts, and individuals who, working alongside Youth Sport Trust, have made a real and impactful change to the lives of young people. Find out how the Youth Sport Trust is building brighter futures for children through sport and play: https://www.youthsporttrust.org/