BEHIND THE SCENES WITH THE WALES WOMEN’S SQUAD:
“IT’S that old saying in British rowing, the one question they asked themselves was: ‘Does it make the boat go quicker? If it doesn’t, you don’t do it’.”
Sat in the Welsh Rugby Union’s impressive centre of excellence at the Vale Resort, Wales coach Chris Horsman explains everything the coaching team do with the women’s national side must add value.
If it doesn’t, they just don’t do it. Former Wales international Horsman, appointed as a WRU skills coach in 2014, is now heading up the women’s senior national programme.
“All a player wants to know is if they come into a session or they do something, they’re going to be better for it. We have to play to the uniqueness of us. There’s truths in every situation – there’s no point pretending there are not.”
A behind-the-scenes look inside the Wales camp just days before the grudge match against England Women – which is being played out this afternoon – sees players arrive in waves as they get to work at their training base, which boasts the best national team preparation facilities on offer.
Players take to the expansive gym, hop on the exercise bikes for a warmup, head to the treatment room to be strapped up and study video analysis before the pre-training team meeting in the early evening.
The staggered arrival times of the players point to a big part of their “uniqueness”, as Horsman says.
For, unlike this weekend’s opponents England (the only professional side in the Six Nations) and Wales’ opponents from a fortnight ago (a semi-professional France), Wales’ players arrive at training after a long day of work or studying.
“Some of them are doing university studying and working – and they’re coming into an international environment”, he added. “That obviously holds its own challenges – but it holds its own uniqueness and that’s something the girls have embraced.”
If you ask captain and No 8 Siwan Lillicrap the one thing she would want, it’s more time, she has admitted.
Head of rugby for Swansea University, she looks after the men’s and women’s rugby programmes, from participation up to high performance. Eight teams compete weekly, while there are more than 300 club members.
Fly-half Robyn Wilkins, daughter to former Wales international Gwilym, is a science teacher at Bassaleg Comprehensive School, where she’s managed to incorporate some rugby coaching into her role, too.
“It’s the perfect job to go alongside playing, and international sport”, the 24-year-old biomedical science graduate says. “You can get away early to get to training, but you’re in the perfect place to inspire the pupils as well. They really like having a chat about the rugby.
“It keeps me busy, I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
Centre Megan Webb – cousin to both Wales and Lions scrum-half Rhys and former Wales Under-20s captain Tommy Reffell – is juggling her first Six Nations tournament alongside her university nursing studies, where she works three 12-hour shifts on a hospital ward per week. “It keeps me on my toes!” she says.
For the rest of the week, it’s training, with some pointers and words of encouragement from her rugbyplaying relatives.
Joining the Under 19s for Bridgend Athletic, the 19-year-old jokes: “You’re kind of born with a rugby ball in your arms!”
“They both always ask me how training is going, always giving support, any tips I need, or fitness advice. With Tommy it’s more so defensively; with Rhys it’s more attack. They’re both really supportive. They know the expectations, it’s always nice if you’ve got any questions, even if they’re tiny, just to ask them.”
But while anyone can see how gruelling a schedule it is for Wales’ women players – training at least two nights during the week and also spending the weekend in camp during a tournament – it is taken to the next level by those who live in north Wales.
Loose-head prop Gwenllian Pyrs’ commitment is unquestionable: she is one of a number who take time away from work to travel down to the Vale of Glamorgan several times a week to keep her place in the side.
Sheepdog trainer Pyrs, who will win her 15th cap today, puts her propping prowess down to the years of mucking out at the family’s farm, the constant support of dad Eryl and the family ritual of playing no-rules rugby in the fields with her nine brothers and sisters.
Gwenllian, who is also a full-time rugby hub officer at Ysgol y Moelwyn in Blaenau Ffestiniog, says: “You don’t mind doing the long drives when you know you’re going to put the jersey on at the end of the week. It’s what you’ve worked hard for and training and playing is what you love doing, so I’ve definitely got an extra spring in my step since the autumn after being given the opportunity to start a run of games.”
It’s this level of commitment that sees Wales and Barbarians fly-half Elinor Snowsill, currently recovering from almost dislocating her hip last year, dub the north Wales contingent “superhuman”.
“Tuesday nights, Thursday nights, weekends, they take half a day off work, drive down for four hours or however long it takes, train and they get home maybe 1am in the morning and they’re straight back in work. It’s insane, I have huge respect for them.
“From the autumn campaign we had five games back to back and the first three were all away and it was a struggle. Spain, Ireland and Scotland, doing that back to back, I think we were coming home sometimes 2am on a Monday morning and then straight into work at 8am.”
But, however difficult the juggle and schedule may be at times, Wales’ players take it in their stride and insist on turning it into a positive.
“We’re all in the same position”, Wales winger and Olympian Jasmine Joyce adds. “Some of us work early mornings which is tough, then some people sometimes can’t come to training because they’ve got work.
“It is tough, but actually we love it and the reason we come is to play for your country.”
Joyce, who represented Team GB at the Rio Olympics and was selected for a pre-Tokyo Sevens training camp last week in Scotland, works as a per
sonal trainer. “Getting those goals then almost makes it easy waking up at 6am in the morning to get your job done and come and train.”
The squad are in something of a transition period at the moment: a new coaching structure was established ahead of the autumn campaign, while there’s a lot of new faces, too. The Six Nations squad contains 11 players who made their Wales debuts during the five-match autumn campaign, where they won three from five.
While results would not have gone the way they would have liked a chat with anyone in camp will uncover they are on something of a new journey.
With the Rugby World Cup taking place in New Zealand next year, with Wales already qualified, the last and current campaign have been used to bring through new talent, and go about looking to challenge for the top four spot in women’s world rugby, with the likes of New Zealand, England and France the sides to beat.
Georgia Evans, who got her first Wales cap during the autumn and makes her second Six Nations start today, explains: “We worked really hard in the autumn to create a really good environment.
“We know where we want to go, the performances are coming, the results will hopefully follow.
“We made it very clear that the top three are obviously New Zealand, England and France, and we want to be pushing going into the World Cup for the top four/top three spot.
“Performances are there, it’s just the results to follow for us.”
Cousin to former Wales and Pontypridd fly-half Ceri Sweeney, Georgia grew up in England to Pontypriddborn parents and chose to move in with her Welsh grandparents aged 16 when her father’s work took him to Abu Dhabi.
Now, she gets her second start against a formidable English side searching for a tenth successive Six Nations victory on home turf.
But Georgia is not fazed. “Looking at them, they’re no different to us – they may have contracts but they are just rugby players, so we’re really excited going into it.”
■ Wales Women face England at Twickenham Stoop today (12.05pm).
■ This week has marked the start of the new female season for all domestic rugby in Wales, and ‘Rookie Rugby’ events will introduce more than 10,000 girls to rugby this season. More information on girls’ hubs can be found at www.WRU.wales/ girlsrugby
■ For athletes wanting to try their hand at rugby, they can sign up for the Talent ID Day at wrugamelocker. wales