Saturday’s victory against Portugal was bookended by losses to Scotland and eventual champions Russia in the Grand Prix Series pool, denying Wales the chance to equal or improve on their fifth-place finish in France a month ago.
“As we expected, day one proved to be a tough challenge and we were disappointed not to achieve our goal of reaching the quarter-final stages,” said Hooper. “We know that our performance against Scotland wasn’t to the level that we are capable of, and full credit to them for taking their opportunities.
“We bounced back to winning ways against Portugal but having to beat a full-strength World Series Russia team to qualify for the quarter-finals proved too tough a test for us.”
Despite those disappointments, Wales were determined to finish the tournament on a high, and duly did so in claiming wins against Germany (40-7) and England (12-5).
“Those results show the quality and exciting potential within this squad,” Hooper said. “Gemma Rowland was outstanding this weekend and our co-captains Jaz Joyce and Hannah Jones led the squad well.
“This Rugby Europe campaign has been an experience that we will all learn so much from and I can’t praise the players enough for their commitment to the jersey.”
