Women's Six Nations 2023: Tournament cannot continue in this guise, says Simon Middleton

England's game against France was the 2022 Women's Six Nations Grand Slam decider, as it is expected to be in 2023

The Women's Six Nations cannot "continue in the guise it is" with England and France so far ahead, says Red Roses head coach Simon Middleton.

Middleton added the rapid growth of women's rugby in recent years "could mask some of the issues" in the sport.

England have won their three 2023 Six Nations games so far by at least 50 points and can expect an even bigger victory against Ireland on Saturday.

"We have to close this gap," Middleton told BBC Sport's Sara Orchard.

England and France have dominated the Women's Six Nations since Ireland last took the title in 2015.

The Red Roses have won the last four editions, with France victorious in 2016 and 2018, either side of another England win.

Middleton's side have continued to pull away since becoming professional in 2019 and had won 30 Tests in a row by the end of 2022.

Departing head coach Middleton, who will step down after the tournament, said it is a case of "the sooner the better" for other teams to improve.

"It's all dependent on how the unions get behind it," he added.

"The rate of acceleration and closing the gap will all depend on funding. We have to make these games more competitive.

"We've been in this situation for a long time. We know going back eight years, Ireland were a real force, France, ourselves, and Wales beat an England side in 2015.

"I'm not sure it can continue in the guise it is now where it's always going to come down to the last game, England and France, because that's not good for anybody."

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'Huge sympathy' for Ireland

The Irish Rugby Football Union offered professional contracts to its players at the end of 2022, but stipulated that club rugby had to be played in Ireland and not all players took up the offer.

Added to that, the Six Nations team has been missing several stars who are away on sevens duty and last week the union disputed allegations of sexism at the organisation.

Unwilling to comment on the allegations, Middleton said growing a team is "a tough process" but felt the rewards are great.

Wales' union were rewarded for their investment in contracts with a record Cardiff crowd last weekend and England are expecting the biggest attendance in the history of women's rugby for their game against France at Twickenham on 29 April.

"The Six Nations in particular is a very tough playground to learn in if you're not at the top end of the table," Middleton added.

"You have huge sympathy with where they [Ireland] are at in a way because it's a painful place to be, but if you can get through it and get belief behind you, there's a great goal at the end of it.

"We saw that last weekend with 8,800 fans in Wales - a fantastic occasion - and hopefully next weekend we'll see something we've never seen before [at Twickenham]."

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