This years Guinness Women's Six Nations was always going to be an interesting one. Not only was the competition between the teams growing ever closer due to the rise in professionalism but there was also the small matter of one World Cup qualification spot on the line.
With the 2025 competition taking place in England it truly would be an absolute shame for the Irish girls not be included especially with the momentum they are beginning to gather.
But what do the girls in green need to do over these next two weeks to guarantee their spot on the flight across the Irish Sea?
Before we begin we need to realise that this will not be an easy feat. As it stands both England and France have already qualified for the tournament due to England being hosts and France placing in the top 4 during the 2021 iteration.
This leaves just one slot remaining.
So what do we need to happen to gain this slot?
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Permutations for Ireland women's rugby team
Beating England this weekend and Scotland next weekend would be the ideal scenario but unfortunately things don't come that easily.
As things stand Ireland currently sit at 3rd on the table with 6 points, Italy sit at 4th with 5 points, Scotland has 4 points and sits at 5th and finally Wales have just 1 point and sit at the bottom. There really isn't much separating the best of the rest.
How things stand after three round of action 🤩#GuinnessW6N pic.twitter.com/feht0GAqcl
— Guinness Women's Six Nations (@Womens6Nations) April 14, 2024
Ireland currently have a vastly superior points difference to Italy and Scotland, but both of those counties have already played England.
The best Ireland can hope for is a close game with England. A losing bonus point would be a tremendous achievement.
Italy's game against Scotland this weekend in Parma will be closely watched. A draw would be tremendous as Ireland could in theory stay in third place if they lose by less than 62 points. A Scotland win would also be useful as it would slow down Italy, who have already defeated Ireland.
No matter what happens, Ireland will hope to beat Scotland in the Kingspan, hopefully with another bonus point, and then will have to pray that Wales do the job against Italy.
If everything goes as planned above Ireland should remain in 3rd and secure that all important World Cup spot.
But do not fear. If the remaining fixtures go pear shaped and we can't rely on our Celtic counterparts, there is still opportunities to qualify during the WXV tournament at the end of the year.
Ideally Ireland would want to qualify this Six Nations period to ease off on the pressure and allow them to use WXV as an opportunity to test players before going to England for the World Cup the following year.
All we can do as fans at this stage is support the girls every step of the way as they close out a vastly improved Six Nations Championship Saturday week.
Tickets for the clash against Scotland can be found here.
