History will be made in Cardiff next summer. At 7.30pm on Friday, August 27, the British and Irish Lions Women’s team will play their first-ever match at the Principality Stadium. Their opponents? France.

Rewind a couple of years to when an inaugural Lions Women’s tour was mooted and France was favoured as a destination by many commentators; it has a history of delivering big crowds, has a strong domestic structure, and would be appealing and affordable for fans. Instead, organisers opted for New Zealand.

It is easy to see why, given New Zealand’s history not only with the Lions but in women’s rugby. The country is a well-established destination for men’s tours while the Black Ferns have long been one of the best women’s teams on the planet; they have won six of the 10 Women’s Rugby World Cups to date, including four back-to-back between 1998 and 2002.

Still, there are question marks hanging over next September’s tour and the biggest one is crowds. One, how many fans from the UK and Ireland will travel to the other side of the world to watch the five fixtures, which include three Tests? The fear is that rather than the “sea of red” that men’s tours have become renowned for since the 1997 trip to South Africa, it may be more of a “puddle of red”.

Two, will New Zealanders fill the stands at the venues in Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch? While they turned out in force for the 2022 Women’s World Cup, which they won, there have been swathes of empty seats at most of their home Test matches ever since. It seemed locals were bitten by the bug for two months in 2022 but the effects have not been long-lasting, with many criticising New Zealand Rugby for its inability to capitalise on that interest four years ago.

This “warm-up” fixture (or Howden Lions Women’s Cup to give the official title) against Les Bleues on home soil, however, is the perfect opportunity to tap into the growing appetite for women’s rugby in Europe. Attendances on this side of the world for women’s Tests are continuing to grow, with England and France fixtures particularly popular. In fact, the French were arguably ahead of the curve in terms of their in-stadium audience, attracting impressive crowds for Les Bleues matches as far back as the 2000s.

A trip to Cardiff is easily accessible for those travelling supporters while it is also a short hop for fans from any of the home nations too (albeit the less said about late-night trains out of Cardiff the better).

Yes, the timing of this fixture, and the tour as a whole, could be better as it will likely overlap with warm-up matches ahead of the men’s Rugby World Cup in Australia, but organisers have priced it sensibly with adult tickets at £20 and children’s at £10, plus a discount available for groups of 10 or more.

It is also the perfect acid test for taking the Lions on a full tour of France in the future. A competitive match, which is expected given France’s form in recent years, in front of a big crowd would prove the product has the requisite audience. As Lions head coach Jo Yapp says: “There are moments in sport that only come around once – and this is one of them. France are the ideal team for an occasion like this. They bring a relentless defence and a real edge in attack. That’s exactly the challenge that we need before heading to New Zealand. I’d love to see everyone get behind the squad and share this milestone with us.”

It should also be an appealing fixture for broadcasters (the TV deal for next year’s tour is still to be confirmed), while a multi-match tour in Europe, particularly centred on the UK and France, would also present a huge commercial market for organisers to leverage. It would be new ground for the Lions but it is likely to be well worth taking that step.

And who knows, if this proves successful, there could be a men’s Lions tour to France too…

British and Irish Lions Women’s Tour 2027 fixtures

• France, August 27, Principality Stadium, Cardiff

• Black Ferns XV, September 4, Semenoff Stadium, Whangarei,

• Black Ferns, First Test, September 11, Go Media Stadium, Auckland

• Invitational XV, September 14, FMG Stadium Waikato, Hamilton

• Black Ferns, Second Test, September 18, Sky Stadium, Wellington

• Black Ferns, Third Test, September 25, One NZ Stadium, Christchurch