By Hannah Blackwell
Ioan Cunningam is choosing to look on the bright side even though his Wales women’s team have dropped to 10th in the latest World Rugby rankings after losing 40-14 to Scotland last weekend.
That makes Wales the lowest ranked team in the Six Nations, with both Ireland and Italy having moved above them.
Head coach Ioan Cunningham says ongoing contract talks have had no bearing on his selection for Wales' friendly against Scotland 🏉#BBCRugby pic.twitter.com/u0CdCcRa7d
— BBC ScrumV (@BBCScrumV) September 5, 2024
The trigger was a friendly defeat to the Scots in what was supposed to have been a warm-up for the forthcoming WXV2 tournament.
But Cunningham has insisted he is unconcerned at this latest setback in Edinburgh.
His side may have gone down by six tries to two, but they led 7-5 at the end of a highly competitive first half and he managed to blood a number of new players at the start of what is a World Cup year.
Wales Women ripped apart by Scotland in second-half disaster https://t.co/nXXJKOPnOr
— Welsh Women's Rugby🏴 (@waleswomenrugby) September 7, 2024
“We’re delighted we’ve been able to expose some of our new talent to Test level rugby. I told the team to ignore the score because I thought there were a load of positives,” said Cunningham.
“Our defence in the first half was excellent but we needed a bit more territory and to hold onto the ball a bit longer. We can create opportunities and score points when we hold onto the ball and so those are lessons we can learn.
“We had six U20s players from the summer on the field in the last 20 minutes and we’ve grown some leadership by giving Keira Bevan the captaincy. We’ve also got Alex Callender, Abi Fleming, Carys Cox, Georgia Evans, Hannah Jones and Carys Phillips to bring back into the group.
“When you consider all that, and the need to grow the depth within the squad, it means competition is growing.”
Congratulations to Scotland on an incredible performance against a Wales team that still had a ton of talent and experience in the 23, even if missing a few key players. Fantastic rugby, especially second half, and felt like player of the match could have been several players 😍 https://t.co/M2g0UK9TKK
— Scotland Women's Rugby Stories (@scotwomenrugby) September 6, 2024
Wales will have one more game before heading to South Africa for WXV2 later this month when they meet Australia at Rodney Parade on Sunday, 22 September.
That will be a week before the two teams clash for real in Cape Town on 28 September.
Wales will also face Italy on Friday, 4 October and Japan on 11 October as they try to earn promotion back to WXV1.
"We played our little hearts out + enjoyed every second of it – it's what playing for @Scotlandteam's all about"…
Francesca McGhie was part of a clinical second half attacking showing V Wales + the squad want more of the same V Fiji
📸 @N50Sports pic.twitter.com/U3LxXFx6Zy
— Gary Heatly (@G_HMedia) September 9, 2024