2013 Women's Six Nations Championship

The 2013 Women's Six Nations Championship, also known as the 2013 RBS Women's Six Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 12th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union competition between six European rugby union national teams. Matches were to be held in February and March 2013, on the same weekends as the men's tournament, if not always the same day.

Contents

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Leading Scorers
• References

The championship was contested by England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales.

Ireland finished as champions, winning the Grand Slam having never previously finished better than third. England began as favourites to win the tournament, as they had won the previous seven titles in a row. However, many of the leading players may be missing for some or all of the tournament due to preparations for the Sevens World Cup, and this resulted in a far more even contest. In addition almost all weekends were cold and wet, with snow falling even during some of the fourth round, which evened games still more and contributed to a shock result in the first round, with Italy beating France.

The Italians' defence was one of the revelations of the tournament - aside from the first half against England. This was by far and away their best ever Six Nations. Injuries to key players at the start of the tournament hampered France's challenge, but they were in magnificent form at home, won for the first time at Twickenham, and lost only narrowly in Italy and Ireland. Wales would also have been broadly content with their performance, with narrow defeats to Ireland and England - but wins over Italy and Scotland ensured World Cup qualification, which was their main aim. Scotland, on the other hand, suffered some horrendous defeats in a very disappointing campaign where they only scored no tries and only three points.