THOSE WHO WANT to see the women’s game grow will have shuddered as they watched the scoreboards tick over on the opening weekend of the 2021 Six Nations.
Following weeks of excited and positive build-up to the tournament, England and France clocked up a total of 105 points as they easily swatted aside Scotland and Wales respectively.
Wales, for the second season running, didn’t manage to register a single score against France.
Their 53-0 hammering served as a reminder that they are still in the very early stages of their development under new coach Warren Abrahams, who is looking to steady the ship after a couple of hugely disappointing seasons.
Last year Wales lost all four of their games in the Six Nations and conceded a total of 166 points – an average of over 40 points per game – comfortably the worst return of any of the six teams. They scored only five tries in those five games, conceding 26.
Against France they picked up where they left off, shipping eight.
Of course one of the most glaring issues facing the Women’s Six Nations is the fact that a semi-professional squad like France operate on a completely different level to that of Wales, which is why much of the reaction in Wales pointed to the perceived lack of support shown by the WRU over the years, rather than anything that happened on the pitch.
Abrahams is at least trying to move this team in a new direction. A sizeable portion of his squad are still relatively new to international Test rugby. There were two new caps handed out against France and he is experimenting with selections – with veteran centre/out-half Robyn Wilkins currently relocated to fullback.
Abrahams, who counts former Ireland star Sophie Spence as an assistant coach, has stated that his most pressing goal is to introduce some stability after years of inconsistency behind the scenes. The South African came to the job with a colourful CV which included stints with the Harlequins Academy, the England Men’s Sevens and the USA Women’s Sevens.
That France defeat was Wales’ first outing in 12 months, and their first game under Abrahams.
The Wales camp have pointed to their workrate and effort against France as positives and will look to build on that again against Ireland, even if those are the minimum requirements at this level. What is more concerning for Wales is that they spent much of the game stuck in their own half and offered nothing going forward.
An Ireland team that haven’t played in six months will be viewed by the Welsh camp as more equal, and beatable opponents.
Defeat, however, would suggest they remain some way off the pace. Wales know the result of this game carries far more meaning than what happened in Vannes last weekend.
Abrahams has reacted to that France loss by making four changes to his team. Cara Hope and Cerys Hale are named in the front row while Natalia John starts at lock. The only change in the Wales backline sees Courtney Keight start on the left wing, with exciting winger Jasmine Joyce away with GB Sevens.
“The pressure is only the pressure we put on ourselves,” Abrahams said.
“The result will look after itself. We’ve got to go back to the drawing board. If we want to compete at this level, we’ve got to dominate the collisions.
“You’ve got to give yourself go forward and you’ve got to give yourself a platform to play from. We’ve got another opportunity again this weekend and hopefully we can step things up.
“The girls are all raring to go again. When you go through these tough situations, and we all agree it was a pretty painful experience, it’s going to make us better.”
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Murray Kinsella, Bernard Jackman and Gavan Casey look back on a mixed weekend in Europe for the provinces before previewing Exeter-Leinster and Wales-Ireland.
