Let’s step up a gear, says Siwan

WALES Women captain Siwan Lillicrap has challenged her team to “go to another level” as they bid to complete an autumn clean sweep against Canada on Sunday.

Lillicrap has skippered Wales to back-to-back victories over Japan and South Africa so far this November. Canada – ranked third in the world rankings – are their last opponents.

After a 23-5 win over Japan in their first game, Wales passed their South African test with flying colours as they claimed a 29-19 victory.

Hooker Carys Phillips claimed a hat-trick of tries, while scrumhalf Ffion Lewis also crossed. Elinor Snowsill kicked three conversions and a penalty.

“The most encouraging thing for me was the performance and how we ground out the win,” said No. 8 Lillicrap (right).

“There were opportunities we didn’t take, but we are still new to this journey and there were some very good individual performances.

“We’ve got the results and we’ll go again for this week.

“It’s exciting to see what we can work on for Canada.

“It was a physical performance against South Africa, we worked hard and put our bodies on the line. We’ve made a huge improvement and a huge step up.

“All the girls have got smiles on their faces, but the most important thing is we can get better and that’s exciting.

“We’re just going to get better and better every week.

“We’re probably looking at a combination of the physicality of South Africa and the work rate and execution of Japan.

“We’ve got to go to another level of performance. Our big work-on is executing the opportunities we create.

“We have gone two years without a win so to have two on the bounce in less than six days is very positive.

“The way we start games now on the front foot is a huge improvement on where we’ve been before. I’m excited for another challenge and how we can build from here.”