Cunningham says same again as Wales welcome the Scots
WALES head coach Ioan Cunningham has put his faith in the matchday 23 which pulled off a thrilling comeback win in Dublin last time out for tomorrow’s Six Nations clash against Scotland.
The former Scarlets forwards coach has named an unchanged squad for the game at Cardiff Arms Park (4.45pm kick-off).
Wales – now playing with 12 professional and 12 semi-professional players in their ranks – will be full of confidence after a final-quarter turnaround to beat Ireland 27-19 in Dublin, while visitors Scotland will be bidding to give a much stronger account of themselves after their 57-5 defeat to reigning champions England would suggest.
Cunningham (pictured) believes the side which ended Wales’ seven-game Six Nations losing streak deserve the chance to go again at home.
Last weekend’s outing showed the importance and strength in depth throughout Wales’ bench, and they will be hoping to make another big impact late on in this weekend’s fixture.
Wales are hoping for a record crowd at the Arms Park, with more than 3,000 tickets sold as of yesterday. The Welsh record for a standalone women’s international rugby match is thought to be their 2017 clash against England, attended by 4,113 people. Each championship match in the opening round saw a record crowd.
Wales boss Cunningham said: “The selection certainly rewards the team’s performance last weekend. Those players deserve another chance to perform and express themselves in front of their family, friends, and a big home crowd on Saturday.
“We saw some huge performances across the park from Donna Rose’s two tries to Hannah Jones’ score that finished off the game and Alisha Butchers winning player of the round.
“We want to grow some consistency within combinations and we will be challenging those players to back up last week’s performance with one eye on how we will need to prepare during the Rugby World Cup. We are in no way underestimating Scotland. They are a tough team and have grown cohesion having spent a lot of time together during their campaign to qualify for the World Cup.
“The score line against England didn’t reflect their performance and they will come down looking to bounce back. We are expecting a tough challenge but one we are looking forward to.”
Cunningham insists his Wales team can improve further, particularly around discipline.
“There is always room for improvement. We also want to finish strongly again - and that needs a real intensity, both physically and mentally, something we showed last Saturday,” he added.
“We’d love to have a really big crowd to get behind the team, that would be awesome, it would give the players a real boost. And we want to produce a performance that inspires the next generation.”
Wales: 15. Kayleigh Powell, 14. Lisa Neumann, 13. Hannah Jones, 12. Kerin Lake, 11. Jasmine Joyce, 10. Elinor Snowsill, 9. Keira Bevan, 1. Gwenllian Pyrs,
2. Carys Phillips, 3. Cerys Hale, 4. Natalia John, 5. Gwen Crabb, 6. Alisha Butchers, 7. Alex Callender, 8. Siwan Lillicrap (capt). Reps: 16. Kelsey Jones, 17. Cara Hope,
18. Donna Rose, 19. Sioned Harries, 20. Bethan Lewis, 21. Ffion Lewis, 22. Robyn Wilkins, 23. Sisilia Tuipulotu.