# Women’s Six Nations: Smaller balls and bigger crowds Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/rugby-union-weekly-443156/women-s-six-nations-smaller-balls-and-bigger-crowds Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/rugby-union-weekly-443156/women-s-six-nations-smaller-balls-and-bigger-crowds.md Podcast: [Rugby Union Weekly](https://stenobird.com/podcast/rugby-union-weekly-443156) Published: 2026-05-06T21:00:00+00:00 Episode link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0njqzxz Audio file: http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss/proto/http/vpid/p0njqtdk.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/rugby-union-weekly-443156/episodes/women-s-six-nations-smaller-balls-and-bigger-crowds Duration seconds: 2599 ## Resource Should the women’s game be using smaller balls? The debate is back on the agenda after Zoe Harrison’s interview with Sara about the decision to use size 4.5 balls at this autumn's WXV Global Series. Kat Merchant and Philippa Tuttiett give their views on ball trial, and discuss whether it is a backwards step for the game. We also examine the state of the women’s game in Italy as they prepare to face the Red Roses after an impressive victory over Scotland. Ticket sales for Ireland’s big date at the Aviva continue to fly off the shelf. Can Wales build on their bonus point against England and cause a big upset in Belfast? ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/rugby-union-weekly-443156/episodes/women-s-six-nations-smaller-balls-and-bigger-crowds/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/rugby-union-weekly-443156/women-s-six-nations-smaller-balls-and-bigger-crowds.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.