EVE HIGGINS BELIEVES Ireland have ‘nothing to lose and everything to gain’ when they take on world champions England in the opening round of the Women’s Six Nations at Twickenham Stadium tomorrow (kick-off 2.25pm).

Championship winners in each of the past seven seasons, the Red Roses secured their third Women’s Rugby World Cup crown with an impressive final triumph over Canada in front of 81,885 spectators at Twickenham last September.

While there may not be quite that number in attendance this weekend, the fact more than 70,000 tickets have been sold guarantees a new record Women’s Six Nations crowd for the latest duel between Ireland and England.

Ireland head to London as clear underdogs, but Higgins can’t wait to get her international season up and running in a cauldron-like atmosphere.

“We’ve nothing to lose, genuinely. We’ve nothing to lose and everything to gain, in a sense. If you ask every single person in the squad, they’re just excited to play. What an occasion.

“England have been leading the way in support and growing their game, growing their team identity. They’ve really gained support. You saw that in the World Cup last year. The fact that they keep breaking new records, gaining support.

Hopefully Twickenham will be sold out, it’s looking like it will be close to that. It’s just an exciting occasion to be a part of. 100%, we’re going to go in with nothing to lose.

There is a strong sense of continuity in the Irish back line for their opening international test of 2025, with five of those who started last year’s World Cup knockout loss to France (including Higgins at inside centre) also set to feature in the first 15 at Twickenham tomorrow.

The unavailability of Aoibheann Reilly because of injury means Emily Lane will be starting alongside Dannah O’Brien at half-back and there is also a place on the left wing for Vicky Elmes Kinlan, who missed out on selection for the World Cup squad.

She takes over in the back three from Amee-Leigh Costigan as the Tipperary woman is currently on a break from rugby after recently revealing that she is expecting twins later this year.

Higgins: We've underperformed the last two Six Nations. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO

Although a player of Costigan’s experience and quality is hard to replace, Higgins has full faith in those who had battled for inclusion in this weekend’s matchday 23. Additionally, she explained how Costigan is remaining a key member of the set-up behind the scenes.

“We had three outstanding wings playing in the World Cup with Leigh, Bé [Béibhinn Parsons] and Anna [McGann]. Then we also had the likes of Vicky [Elmes Kinlan] at home that just missed out on an opportunity at the World Cup.

“Now new players are coming through, the likes of Robyn [O’Connor] and Alana [McInerney] that have been around us for the last number of years and are itching to have that opportunity. We have just as much confidence in all of them.

We don’t have Amee-Leigh on the pitch, but we definitely have her off the pitch. She’s in with us every day in training, she’s in meetings.

“She’s in and she’s contributing as much as she can off the pitch, so that’s really standing to us.

Beyond the opening weekend, one of Ireland’s main targets for the Six Nations will be to get at least three wins under their belts. Despite finishing the past two Championships in third place, you have to go back to 2020 for the last time the Irish earned three victories in a single Women’s Six Nations – a Covid-disrupted tournament where they only played four games.

Scott Bemand’s side will clearly be going all out to triumph in every game they play in the 2026 edition of the Championship, but Higgins agrees their three home fixtures are ones Ireland will be looking to come out on top of.

After facing Italy and Wales in Galway’s Dexcom Stadium and Affidea Stadium in Belfast on 18 April and 9 May respectively, their campaign will be rounded off by a historic standalone encounter with Scotland in the Aviva Stadium on 17 May.

We’ve underperformed the last two Six Nations in that sense. We’ve come top three, but we’ve wanted to at least get three wins.

“We’re looking forward to playing in the Dexcom next week and it’s looking like it’s going to be a record crowd,” Higgins added.

“Then you obviously have the Aviva game at the end of the Six Nations, which is something that I think a lot of us have been itching to do and participate in. Ticket sales for that are going really well, so we just want to grow throughout this competition and grow that support in that Green Wave to come out and support us.”