A record number of tickets sold – 27,000 and counting – for this week’s final Six Nations game, a first appearance at the Aviva Stadium since 2014 and Erin King’s debut as captain in Irish rugby’s spiritual home make this week far from run of the mill.
It has been a long and winding road as Ireland face into their last game of the 2026 championship against Scotland on Sunday (2.30pm), the first stand-alone game the women’s team will have played at the venue.
The team’s aim is to consolidate their third place in the standings behind England and France, who take each other on in a winner-takes-all clash in Bordeaux later on Saturday evening.
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King can’t remember the win over Italy at the Aviva 12 years ago. The Irish captain was still a child and also living abroad at the time.
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“I think I was living in Qatar. I was probably in primary school at that point. It’s come a long way since then,” she says. “I was born in Australia and I grew up in the Middle East. So, I moved here when I was 12 and moved to Blessington and Wicklow. That’s where my family are living, my grandad is Irish, so that’s why we came back here.”
To captain the national team as a 22-year-old is unusually young. But King’s maturity on and off the pitch has earned her the honour.
Identified as a player of interest at just 17, she’s already a veteran of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and a recipient of the 2024 World Rugby Breakthough Player of the Year.
“The first chat I had with Scott [Bemand, coach], I was definitely taken aback,” she says. “I really didn’t expect it [captaincy]. I’m not normally speechless, but I was in that moment. He only asked me after my first game back from injury as well, so I wasn’t expecting that.”
King missed out on the 2025 World Cup in England due to a knee injury.
“I think the injury definitely taught me a lot about rugby and a lot about life and perspective and how grateful I am to get to wear the green jersey and leaving it in a better place than where I found it,” she says.
“Don’t take anything for granted, because it can be taken away from you in an instant. I don’t know if it was a question or if he told me, but I obviously accepted straight away.”
The fan numbers have been steadily rising for the Irish team. more than 9,000 turned out in the Dexcom Stadium in Galway for Ireland’s 57-20 win over Italy in April, so as the numbers creep towards 30,000, it will already be a triumph.
However, that alone won’t satisfy King or the squad.
“I think it speaks volumes of where the game’s going and all the work that the team has done in the past few years to show how good women’s rugby is,” she says.
“We also talk about our ‘green wave’ a lot and how much that means to us, how inspiring the next generation is a big part of why we do what we do.
“To break the record and to break it pretty well so far, I think there’s been 27,000 tickets sold, is really inspiring stuff.”
There’s also Ireland’s record against Scotland, which has not been plain sailing in recent years, with the visitors winning two of the last three Six Nations meetings between the sides. Determined to keep this year’s home record intact, Ireland last beat Scotland in the 2024 campaign when they held on for the final six minutes of the match in the face of a furious onslaught.
“They are quite unfortunate with a few injuries, but they’re a great team, and they showed last year in our last game against them that they can pull it out when it really matters,” says King.
“The last time we beat them was when we qualified for the World Cup. I think they’re going to fire their shots.
“They’ve got some good backs. They’ve got a good, solid pack. It won’t be an easy feat. The last game of the Six Nations, everyone wants to win it.”
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