If Defense Wins Rugby Games, It Certainly Loses Them Too

I think I have to eat my words from week one! Round two of the 2026 Women's Six Nations exposed how much defense makes an impact on the result of a rugby game. Now possession isn't everything when it comes to scoring trys, but it certainly doesn't hurt. A team that has more possession has more chances to score and less chances of being scored on. I want to share some stats with you:

• Scotland made 116 tackles and missed 53. England made 73 and missed 20.

•  Wales made 205(!!!) tackles and missed 39. France made 128 and missed 10.

• Italy made 189 tackles and missed 23. Ireland made 157 and missed 20.

Ask any player what's more tiring, being on attack or defense? Hands down defending takes more energy and will chip away at a teams moral. It's exhausting. Not to mention spending that much time defending will eventually disconnect the defensive line, creating gaps and dog legs that teams will take advantage of.

Not many teams can spend the majority of the game on defense and come away with a win. In order for that to happen they have to be clinical on attack. Limit handling errors, consistently make gainline, and most importantly put points on the board.

So what's the take away? Other than spend less time on defense?

1. Get out of the breakdown. Unless you're successfully jackaling, leave it alone. You can't afford to spend energy disrupting the ruck and take a defender out of the line.

2. Defend from the inside out. Force teams to go around you/beat you on the edge vs through you/ up the middle.

3. I'm very attack focused, and I think when a team knows they're going to be under a lot of pressure, they have to change their attack structure to relieve that pressure. An unpredictable team is hard to play against.

Round three has some good match ups, and I'm curious to see how Wales plans to take on England.