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Nations? Well, Castle Park will stage what is poised to be the decisive battle in the race to be crowned champions. England host France on 10 February, with the sides ranked second and third in the world joint favourites to lift the trophy.
There was only one point in it in Grenoble last year, triumphing 18-17 and going on to win a Grand Slam, and a similarly close encounter is expected in Doncaster next month.
W“We’ve got a title to defend and teams will be out to stop us,” says France full-back Jessy Trémoulière, the World Player of the Year. “We have three away games but if we play like we can, there is no reason we can’t succeed.”
France will go into the championship full of confidence after beating the Black Ferns for the first time, but they haven’t won back-to-back Six Nations titles since 2004-05 and often struggle away from home.
will not be short of self-belief. They won all three of their autumn Tests, beating USA, Canada and Ireland, while coach Simon Middleton was able to experiment with his selections and build depth. On top of that, of course, is the fact 28 players are now on professional contracts, including three who were previously part of the sevens set-up.
Emily Scarratt and Natasha Hunt have moved between sevens and 15s since helping England win the 2014 World
Cup and started this season as part of the contracted sevens squad. However, when full-time 15s deals were put on the table they decided to switch codes and they will certainly strengthen England for the championship, with their experience likely to be particularly important.
Prolific scorer Jess Breach, the wing who crossed for 11 tries in her first two Tests, has also returned to 15s and opposition defences will be wary of her finishing ability. With Lydia Thompson, who scored a hat-trick against Ireland at Twickenham in November, also in the back-three mix, England have a lot of attacking threats at their disposal.
Hannah Botterman, still only 19, continues to impress at tighthead and there are talented teens in the other home nations sides too. Beibhinn Parsons became youngest