Hannah Botterman is backing Twickenham to become a fortress ahead of England's hotly-anticipated showdown with France at the end of the 2023 Women’s Six Nations.

The Red Roses are set to clash with Les Bleus at the home of English rugby in a potential championship decider on April 29.

It will be the first time England's women have played a standalone fixture at HQ and have already sold more than 40,000 tickets for what they hope will be a world record crowd for a women’s game.

And the former Datchworth and Welwyn junior hopes this will become the standard ahead of the 2025 Rugby World Cup on home soil.

Botterman said: "We had a meeting not so long ago to say that everyone’s ambition is to sell out Twickenham for that World Cup final.

"That’s the plan, that’s what we want, and we don’t just want that to be a one-off. We want that to be the norm and to play all of our Six Nations games here.

"When I started we were ecstatic to sell out a 5,000-seater stadium in Doncaster. We were buzzing about it.

"Now we are getting 40,000 people into Twickenham to watch us. It’s really special and it just shows how fast it’s growing and how quickly it is getting there.

"For us, it is about not getting too excited about the occasion and focusing not only on that game but all the other games that come before it. 

"It is going to be a massive occasion and hopefully we will have the opportunity to win another Six Nations title at home."

Botterman was speaking at the announcement of a new collaborative project between the Women’s Sport Trust, O2 and the Rugby Football Union to deliver a long-term study into the visibility of the England women’s rugby team, with the joint ambition to use the data and insights to help close rugby’s gender awareness gap.

The women’s game has had a transformative 12 months as England played in front of two record crowds in the 2022 Six Nations before playing in front of 40,000 at the Rugby World Cup final in New Zealand.

The Red Roses were on the wrong side of a shock defeat in that final, which brought a sudden end to their world-record 30-match winning streak.

But it is that disappointment that is fuelling England’s bid for a fourth grand slam in five years in what Botterman believes will be the most competitive championship yet.

She said: "There is a sense that it’s changed, it’s very different from what it was five, six years ago and as players you can definitely see that.

"If there was one thing that we probably wanted as players it was for there to be an equal playing field, we don’t just want to be the people that win because we are fully contracted.  

"We want there to be some serious competition and it will be really interesting to see how tight it is this year. 

"You have the likes of us and France who have always been the front-runners, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see someone else coming through the ranks."

The Rugby Football Union, O2 and Women’s Sport Trust have announced an innovative collaboration that aims to use data and insight to help close rugby’s gender awareness gap. #WearTheRose