Six Nations Week 2 review

The second week of the Women's 2025 Six Nations brought less intrigue than the first and highlighted the gaps that currently exist between teams in this competition at this moment in time. England did what was expected by dismantling Wales, France brushed aside Scotland and Ireland's backs feasted against Italy. Having said that, there was still plenty to digest from last weekend so here are the major headlines from those games as the tournament heads into a break week.

France 38 vs 15 Scotland

• France reasserted themselves as a top-two team in Europe with a convincing win over Scotland. Unlike their tricky encounter with Ireland, France made sure the result of this game was never in doubt. They barrelled through the middle of the Scottish defence on many occasions and kept a distance throughout.
• Scotland have often been able to keep France close within their games over recent years despite the disparity in general ability between the sides - that was not the case this time around.
• Orr shone once again at centre for Scotland with her strong performance highlighted by another try.

Wales 12 vs 67 England

• Abi Burton was already an inspiration following her incredible journey through serious health issues to returning to professional sport. On Saturday she took that to the next level with two tries on her debut in a convincing England win.
• Ellie Kildunne made her first start of the Six Nations after spending the opening part of the first game resting on the bench. She wasted no time before making her mark by scoring a customary hat-trick which honestly didn't even come as a surprise given how good she now is.
• Wales made a bright start with an early try and then kept knocking on the door of the England try-line but couldn't quite make the pressure count. They continued to dominate the opening minutes until one fumble lead (almost directly) to an England try and things only spiralled from there. The day started out well in front of a Wales women's record crowd of over 20,000 inside the Principality but hopes were quickly dashed by the English. This was never going to be a defining game for Wales so they can take a couple of positives and move onto their game against France.

Italy 12 vs 54 Ireland

• Sunday was a tough day for Italy. The home side were badly beaten with the game over by halftime. In a tricky day the were very few bright spots for the Italians as they look to regroup before facing Scotland in a game they'll likely be targeting as one of two potentially winnable fixtures. 
• Ireland responded emphatically to their disappointing defeat in France last week by dismantling Italy. Ireland dominated from start to finish with this game highlighting the progress that has been made by the decisions to give out professional contracts to female players and to shift focus from women's sevens to fifteens this year.
• After Wafer stood out last week, McGann stepped up and scored a hat-trick for Ireland. The right winger was dangerous all day and finished well for her scores.