Opening their account against Scotland in Colwyn Bay on Friday 2nd February, Phillips says he wants a good performance – and indeed a good result – in that match, but not at the expense of the team’s long-term ambitions.
“The key thing is that we’ve got four years as far as this team is concerned,” he says, referring to the next World Cup. “What we don’t want to do is make wholesale changes and throw a load of youngsters into this first game. The right way to do it would be to drip feed one or two players here and there.”
Wales’ last competitive match was against tournament hosts Ireland in the World Cup, and they face the same opponents in a Six Nations warm-up match in Ystrad Mynach on Sunday 21st January. The Centre for Sporting Excellence hosted a World Cup warm-up match against Japan in 2017, but this time the line-up is set to be less experimental.
Phillips says: “We’ll have selected our squad before the game against Ireland, whereas against Japan we had the luxury of running as many players as we could. This time we’ll be so close to the Six Nations opener that it would make more sense to use only 24-25 players and use it as prep for Scotland.”
He believes Ireland will have a point to prove after their defeat on home soil at the hands of Wales last summer, and whilst he describes his own side’s Six Nations outing last year as “mixed”, lessons have been learnt. “We struggled to recover after the England hammering, but we changed a few things and that showed in the World Cup, which was pleasing.”
As for the wider picture, the women’s sevens squad has spent the last few weeks preparing for a competition in Brisbane at the end of this month. Despite testing squad depth, it’s something the Wales Women management team accounted for well in advance.
“There will be some players away with sevens that will have an opportunity to play against Scotland,” he explains, “but we’re more than happy with our planning. I’m sure there will be tough days ahead, absolutely, but we are keeping our focus on 2021 and building for that World Cup.
“The sevens group are building for this year’s Commonwealth Games, and aiming for a spot on the World Series. These are the things we won’t lose sight of for the sake of just going from game to game.”
There are significant developments on the horizon. Against Italy on Sunday 11th March, Wales Women will feature as part of a Six Nations double-header before the men’s match at Principality Stadium. “It’s massive recognition for how women’s rugby is growing on a participation and public interest level,” he states. “We really appreciate the opportunity from the Union to play in the best stadium in the world.”
He is similarly enthused by the move to Colwyn Bay’s Stadiwm ZipWorld (formerly Parc Eirias), where the U20s already call home. “The explosion of women’s rugby in North Wales has been incredible, and hosting our other fixtures there is a compliment to all the hard work that’s gone on in that part of the country. The appreciation for having these games there is overwhelming, and it’s great that North Wales is being recognised as a really strong part of Welsh women’s rugby.”
