Behind the scenes with the Wales women’s rugby team
THE EVENING POST WAS GIVEN PRIVILEGED ACCESS TO SPEND A DAY IN CAMP WITH WALES’ NEW PROFESSIONAL AND SEMI-PRO PLAYERS AS THEY PREPARED FOR TODAY’S START OF THE WOMEN’S SIX NATIONS.
IF THERE’S one word that’s not thrown around lightly by this Wales team, it’s “trust”. It hasn’t always been there over the past 12 months, which have represented a seismic shift in their treatment as players have gone from amateurs in last year’s winless Six Nations to a squad of 12 full-time professionals plus 11 part-time players as they prepare for their upcoming Championship.
After plenty of promises in the past which the players had learned to distrust, this one finally came true at the turn of 2022 – a World Cup year.
“The confirmation of contracts, it changed the way we were able to play and trust each other completely,” Wales captain Siwan Lillicrap says. “I don’t use that word lightly. We have got complete trust in the whole process.”
Hannah John, Wales team manager of five years, has seen it all at Welsh rugby HQ.
“They’ve been promised a lot in the past, not just this group, historically they have been,” she told us. “Fair play to Nigel [Walker, performance director] – with the backing of Steve [Phillips, chief executive], he’s come in and made it happen. There’s trust. They’re not going to trust everyone 100% straightaway because they’ve been burnt, but it’s a definite shift.”
Precisely 50 days after the new Wales Women programme took effect, players filter in on a crisp, dry St David’s Day earlier this month between 8.45am and 9.15am at the National Centre of Excellence at the
Vale Resort. It is where Wayne Pivac’s men and the U20s are also based, but each has their own entrance for Covid bubble purposes. Full-timers are in four days a week, with retainercontracted players in twice a week. That’s on top of club commitments, with most of the squad playing in the Allianz Premier 15s – England’s top women’s rugby competition where most clubs are affiliated to a Gallagher Premiership side.
The most immediate and obvious change is the fact they do not have to balance rugby with full-time jobs, with their occupations previously including working as teachers, a carpenter, clinical trials manager and even a sheepdog trainer.
“Everyone has been balancing jobs from 8am to 5pm and going straight
to training, most of the girls six days a week because they have to work more to get more money,” Wales flyer Jasmine Joyce says. “It’s completely different now. We’re all happy to be here, we want to learn, we want to get better.”
Nigel Walker has described the programme as a “world-first”, where international coaches are seeing their players more than clubs.
“The relative size of our nation and the small nature of our nation means that it’s possible,” he said. “I’m sure if England were a smaller country they would be doing that too.”
While contracts were felt by many to be long overdue, it is important to remember there is more to professionalism than just being paid. Being truly professional includes having access to high-quality performance environments, top-level coaching and backroom staff and meaningful competition. Wales Women now have all that, while a renewed focus on the women’s pathway will see a reformed U18s set-up play in the Six Nations’ firstever U18s women’s festival this spring.
St David’s Day falls on a Tuesday, when all contracted players are due in. Their quarters used to be office space, and consist of a meeting area, stretching mats, physio treatment area, management office, kitchen and analysis equipment. It’s busy and there is plenty of chatter.
A quick team meeting from Wales head coach Ioan Cunningham is followed by the filming of a good luck
message from the entire squad to Georgia Evans ahead of arm surgery following a weekend injury. It takes three takes amid lots of laughter as Siwan gets to grips with her lines.
Then it’s down to the outdoor training pitch. The warm-up sees Wales attack coach Richard Whiffin field tennis balls via a racket to players, most catching with one hand to test hand-eye co-ordination. A separate group warms up under the watchful eye of strength and conditioning guru Eifion Roberts. Players hold a pole horizontally across their shoulders as they break into sprints. Not being allowed to use their arms engages their core more.
Everything is filmed by analysts, either with an elevated camera or from a birdbox overlooking the pitch.
The warm-up groups swap before getting into skills drills and in-game moves.
“When we’ve been in previously, it’s concentrating on game plan and how we essentially preview teams and how we prepare for the next game,” Siwan explains. “Now we have the luxury of developing those core skills to make us better players and to ultimately help our game plan.”
Wales flanker Alisha Butchers adds: “We’re able to spend more time on-field doing things that you wouldn’t think would make a huge difference, one-percenters. We have a lot more time now to get things right.”
Back to the team room, and players get ready for their gym session. There’s time for a quick snack, attention from head physio Jo Perkins
or analysis feedback with coaches or analyst Adam Fuge from the weekend’s club games.
Players are now provided with food in camp – breakfast, a snack, lunch and sometimes dinner – taking one more thing off their to-do lists.
“A really small thing, but it makes a huge difference,” Wales fly-half Elinor Snowsill explains. “Straightaway, it takes even more pressure off having to meal prep and make sure you’re eating properly.
“Being given supplements, protein and stuff, all these things that you think are such small things, but when you’re an amateur player is another expense and another thing you have to do yourself. They’re doing everything they can to make it as easy as possible for us.”
Downstairs, the gym facility is shared between Wales Women and the U20s; the former use it in the morning and the latter in afternoons. It’s a long, industrial-vibe facility where feelgood music is blaring out via a speaker.
Sisilia Tuipulotu, dubbed the coolest member of the squad, is in charge of the music, having demoted scrumhalf Keira Bevan from DJ duties. Her case was not helped by her decision to play Abba during a gym session!
The clang of heavy weights being released on to the floor after reps can be heard above the music. Also audible is the sound of players coaching and supporting each other.
“Because they’re playing games, we probably haven’t made as many gains as we could have,” said S&C coach Eifion Roberts, who joined Wales Sevens in 2016 and moved to Wales Women during the autumn. “It’s getting that balance right between pushing them enough to get adaptations and responses, and then not fatiguing them too much for games. We’ve got to be smart in how we do that.”
The problem a lot of the players had previously was not being able to attend every session because of work commitments.
“The big difference that I’ve noticed already is going into gym at 9.30am when it’s one of the first things you’ve done that day, you get so much more out of it immediately than when you’ve worked an eight-hour day and carried all the baggage with you to the gym and the last thing you want to do is push yourself in bench or squats,” Snowsill continues.
A new personal best ritual has been introduced where players ring the gym bell after reaching a new high. A single day in February recorded at least seven PBS in one session.
As for meaningful recovery, players have had to get into new habits where they embrace resting now they’re not on the go 24/7. They have eight to 10 more hours in their day than when they were amateurs.
“It’s just insane,” Snowsill said. “I live ridiculously close to the Vale, so if I’m home by 2pm you’re like ‘What am I going to do with all this time?.’”
However, Roberts has impressed upon them the importance of rest: “They might have two or three hours of contact time with us [per day] – it’s what they do for the rest of the day that really matters, and if they’re not getting that right, the stuff they do with us is a waste of time if they’re not
recovering properly. They’d just end up getting more and more fatigued and just break down through injury or illness, or they’re just not making the adaptations they could be.”
As for more team-building exercises, there is an honesty board for any late arrivals or missed appointments, a PBS celebratory section, a rewards board for going above and beyond, while Butchers is hoping to bring her swear jar introduced at Bristol Bears to the Vale.
“The culture and environment is the best it’s ever been, but it’s going to be like that now because we’re living the dream,” Joyce said.
Considering it’s a high-performance sporting environment, the happiness players feel in being there is clear to see.
“We want them to really enjoy the environment and to love what they’re doing – that’s really important,” Cunningham said. “If you’re enjoying it and smiling, I think you learn more. Back in the autumn, I really wanted the girls to express themselves, be themselves.
“We always say there’s no silly questions and if there’s any concerns, please speak up. We want to help. I think we created that. We also touched on performance conversations, which are different. So if I have a performance conversation with a player, it’ll maybe be hearing stuff you don’t like hearing but it’s coming from a good place because we want you to get better.”
As for the medical side of the programme, attention to detail has been paid to women’s health to help players reach their full potential on the pitch. A menstruation app called Fitr is used to track players’ periods, given they are more likely to suffer injuries like ACL issues during certain phases, and offers nutrition advice on what meats to eat and when, for example.
Head physio Jo Perkins explains: “The menstrual cycle should be seen as a real advantage to women, not only as a sign of good health but, by adapting nutrition and training at key times in the cycle, women can make performance gains.”
The Women’s Six Nations, which kicks off today, sees Wales visit Ireland in their opener. Tickets for their three home matches at Cardiff Arms Park – against Scotland on Saturday, April 2, France on Friday, April 22, and Italy on Saturday, April 30 – are on sale and priced at £10 for adults and £5 for children.