Wales Women head coach Rowland Phillips believes his squad has all the ingredients to mount a serious assault on the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup.
Former Wales back-rower Phillips cut his 50-woman training squad down to the 28 ahead of the daunting opener against the Black Ferns of New Zealand in Dublin on August 9. Carys Phillips continues as captain as Wales attempt to beat their best finish of fourth at a Women’s Rugby World Cup.
Phillips admitted he had a hard time finalising his squad, but reckons they have got the balance right as the big kick-off draws nearer.
He said: “Its been a tough process to select this squad, we started off with 50 players after the 6 nations and we learnt a lot from that tournament. There have been challenges to select the squad because there have been three separate groups playing at different times.
“It’s been a real intense process to get to whee we are and it took a long time to finalise the selection. But the mix we have of experienced girls who have been to World Cups before and the young kids is a nice blend to have for this tournament. We are confident we have got it right.”
It doesn’t get any easier for Wales after they take-on New Zealand at Billings Park on the opening day. Third seeds Canada lie in wait in Pool A, and Wales will be hoping to take-on Hong Kong with it all to play for in their final fixture.
The Black Ferns are out to reclaim their World Cup crown after England lifted the trophy in 2014. Wales will be keen to avenge the 63-7 defeat inflicted by New Zealand three years ago, and Phillips has urged his charges to believe they can match England, who earned a 29-20 triumph over New Zealand last month.
He said: “Our first game up is New Zealand and hone you play them, a lot of people just think about how much you will lose by. When I played against New Zealand we were pretty much beaten before we got started but this time around we need to go out and show belief.
“Against England we found out, that we can really step it up when needed and we can challenge anyone on our day. This squad is totally different to the one we had in the Six Nations, we just need to be more clinical when we get the chances.”