“My dad used to coach the Pontarddulais men’s first team,” recalls the diminutive number nine. “So when I was eight I went along with him and, me being me, I got really bored just watching so I picked up a rugby ball and played with it. It all started from there.”
Of her international call-up in 2015, she says it came completely out of the blue. “I’d been away with Wales Sevens in December 2014, and I honestly wasn’t expecting to be selected in the senior squad, let alone to go on and get five caps at the age of 17! It was a bit surreal, but a great experience.”
Quite a punishing one too, as Bevan remembers, although a nation rejoiced as Wales Women came away from Swansea with only their second ever win against their English counterparts. Next weekend, on Saturday 11th February, her team will have another shot at glory as the two countries go head to head once again on Welsh soil – this time at their new home, the BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park.
“It doesn’t really get much bigger than playing England in Cardiff,” says the 19-year-old Osprey, adding that this Wales Women team is fitter than ever to cope with the competition to come. “Conditioning is such a big part of this game. You have to be fit to be able to compete with the likes of England, Ireland and France. You have to be mentally sharp too, of course, but we need to be physically equipped to be able to execute our game plan.”
She continues: “There’s obviously a massive rivalry between England and Wales, so it’s good that we can play that game in Cardiff and get the home support behind us. With the men’s game taking place next door not long after the final whistle, we’re hoping for a particularly good crowd.”
Three scrum-halves have been named in head coach Rowland Phillips’s squad for this year’s tournament, with Sian Moore and Rhiannon Parker vying with Bevan for the nine spot. “There’s a lot of competition for places this year, and everybody’s pushing each other, whether that’s in fitness, weights or training out on the pitch,” she says. “Those are the high standards the coaches want to see. Each one of us is good enough to get a start, so ultimately that’s going to make us a better team.”
On Sunday, the squad took the opportunity to complete one of their final pre-tournament training sessions at the BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park, which Bevan says will hold them in good stead come February 11th. “We’ve played there quite a lot for our regions, but as a national side we’ve only played two games there together,” she says, “so it was good for us to do that. It’s a really nice pitch, and very fast, which suits the way we want to play the game.”
A month later, on Saturday 11th March, it’s the turn of the Irish to come to Cardiff. Bevan believes Tom Tierney’s side will be out to prove a point after Wales’ victory at Donnybrook a fortnight ago: “Ireland are going to want a bit of revenge after that so, again, we want the crowd to have a massive impact on the game. We want the supporters to know how crucial they are to us.”
Things might come full circle for her this Saturday in Italy, since it was against the Azzurre that Bevan made her first start. “That was something else I wasn’t expecting either,” she reflects. “I wasn’t even 18 at that point. Their captain, scrum-half Sara Barattin, is very experienced. She’s the glue that holds them together, calling all the shots. She’s a really good player.”
Although she admits that Wales Women are in a good place heading into the opening weekend, Bevan says it will count for nothing if the team doesn’t build on the positives of the autumn and this month’s warm-up matches.
“As a squad we’ve started to build this platform under Rowland. Going into Spain and Ireland we made improvements on what we’d achieved in the autumn and were able to move up another level,” says Bevan. “We put some nice phases together and the set-piece developed. In Ireland our driving maul was dominant. It’s important that we keep the momentum going and keep building, but we won’t be getting ahead of ourselves.”
