Largest ever round of autumn internationals starts today

The RFU may think that there are no autumn internationals this year, but they could not be more wrong.Never have we seen so much international activity at this time of year, especially in Europe.

This afternoon France kick the season off with a game against Italy in Nice (6.30pm BST). Italy will be at close to full strength - just a couple of new caps in the front row - while France have a number of interesting young players in their squad.

The French squad then move down the coast a bit to Provence where they have two games against England, who have also picked a young, very experimental, team. RFUW are even insisting that the first game - on Wednesday in Marseilles - is not a full international, so we can expect players like the former Welwyn pairing of Hannah Gallagher and Geri Thomas to have a chance to prove themselves here. The second game next Saturday in Aix-le-Provence - will be a full test match, with everyone in the England team aiming for a place in the squad that will play New Zealand at the end of November.

The day after the France/England test, on Sunday 6th, Scotland travel to Amsterdam to take on the Netherlands in game that really could go either way - the Six Nations weakest side against a nation with the world's only professional women rugby players. Its an important game for both nations. Scotland need to pull out of a nose-dive that has seen them win just one of their last 15 internationals (against Sweden in the World Cup), while for Netherlands the target will be next spring's European Trophy, and a place in Europe's qualifier for the 2014 World Cup.

And its not just XVs rugby - this is a huge weekend for the rugby nations east and southern Africa, who gather in Botswana to sort out who four teams will play in the continent's Sevens World Cup qualifier next September. Its an event that the players from the likes of Botswana, Uganda, Kenya and South Africa (among others) will have been preparing for for years, not least because for everyone other than the South Africans this is the only World Cup they have any chance to qualify for (at the moment there is every indication that South Africa will again be given a free pass to the XVs Women's Rugby World Cup without having to worry about having to prove themselves on the field).