Wales pick three for debuts in Dublin date with Ireland

THREE uncapped players will start for Wales Women against Ireland in Dublin tomorrow (1pm).

Full back Kayleigh Powell and wings Paige Randall and Courtney Keight will make up the back three, while Rebekah O’Loughlin is poised for her international debut from the bench.

Sioned Harries comes onto the bench with Manon Johnes still recovering from a leg injury. Leadership is one of the areas Wales are looking to develop strength in depth and the captaincy goes to Siwan Lillicrap for Sunday’s Test.

Wales set-piece coach Chris Horsman has emphasised the importance of using this series to develop the squad in many ways ahead of the Six Nations and 18 months out from the next Women’s Rugby World Cup.

“Our ultimate aim as a performance programme is to close the gap between ourselves and the best teams in international women’s rugby. We are ninth at the moment and we are determined to climb the rankings.

“In terms of the autumn series, we have a chance to develop our strength in depth given we are already qualified for the Rugby World Cup. However, at the end of the day it’s a Test match and that will bring the challenges you’d expect from a Six Nations side.

“Last year’s Six Nations win over Ireland is in the past. The Irish will have moved on and so must we if we want to be competitive at the highest level.

“We were understandably disappointed with the result last weekend. However, we’ve been working hard to raise our game and are looking for constant improvements.”

Kayleigh Powell* (Ospreys); Paige Randall* (Cardiff Blues), Alecs Donovan (Ospreys), Robyn Wilkins (Cardiff Blues), Courtney Keight* (Ospreys); Elinor Snowsill (Ospreys), Ffion Lewis (Scarlets); Gwenllian Pyrs (RGC), Kelsey Jones (Ospreys), Amy Evans (Ospreys), Natalia John (Ospreys), Gwen Crabb (Ospreys), Alex Callender (Scarlets), Bethan Lewis (Scarlets), Siwan Lillicrap (capt, Ospreys) Replacements: Carys Phillips (Ospreys), Gwenllian Jenkins (Scarlets), Cerys Hale (Cardiff Blues), Sioned Harries (Scarlets), Robyn Lock (Ospreys), Keira Bevan (Ospreys), Megan Webb (Cardiff Blues), Rebekah O’Loughlin* (Cardiff Blues)

Wales: * donates new cap