By Jackie Finlan

Friday will kick off the 2018 Women’s Six Nations, an annual tournament unlike any other for women’s national teams. The participants will benefit from a bounty of field time, and U.S. audiences will be able to view all of the fixtures live on FloRugby.

“Definitely, the teams participating in Women’s Six Nations get to play five matches in less than two months, whereas the U.S. national team might get five matches in a year,” USA Eagle Jess Wooden confirmed a sense of envy.

Wooden experiences the Women’s Six Nations unlike the average American. For the past two years, she has been a back-three player and conversion kicker for the Harlequins, the reigning champion of the now-named Tyrrells Premier 15s. The league is England’s top domestic competition and received an investment of 2.4 million pounds from the English RFU in 2017 over three years.

The league is abuzz this time of year, and especially within Wooden’s club, which has sent six of her teammates into the tournament. Rachael Burford, Shauna Brown, Leanne Riley, Vickii Cornborough, and Abbie Scott are in the England squad, and Debrah McCormack is in the Scotland pool. Twenty-year-old Jess Breach was expected to make the 15s pool until she accepted a sevens contract (and then led England with nine tries in her debut at Sydney).

“We will get together to watch the England vs. Wales game at the Twickenham Stoop on February 10,” Wooden looked ahead. “It's our home stadium and it'll be really great to cheer on our teammates in person.” 

It will be a first for Wooden, who has yet to attend a Women’s Six Nations match. She did, however, watch England vs. Canada at Twickenham during the women’s Autumn Internationals.

“There was a fairly decent-sized crowd in attendance for the match," Wooden said. "I think they said there were about 16,000 people in attendance. There is a much larger spectator base here than there is in the U.S.”

Wooden may be seated closer to the Women’s Six Nations, but fans in the U.S. can access all of those tests live from FloRugby.com. Below is the Round 1 schedule, with times in Eastern/Pacific:

Scotland at Wales

Date: Friday, Feb. 2 | Time: 1 PM/10 AM | Where: Colwyn Bay, UK

Broadcast info: WATCH LIVE

Ireland at France

Date: Saturday, Feb. 3 | Time: 3 PM/12 PM | Where: Toulouse, France

Broadcast info: WATCH LIVE

England at Italy

Date: Sunday, Feb. 4 | Time: 12:30 PM/9:30 AM | Where: Reggio Emilia, Italy

Broadcast info: WATCH LIVE

Jackie Finlan has been writing about rugby in the USA and around the world for years. She is the editor of The Rugby Breakdown, which mainly covers the women's game in the USA.