Wins over Romania and Germany completed an improved performance last weekend to end Wales Women’s international season. The tournament began with an encouraging performance against Spain, finalists in Portugal at the start of the month. Alex Callender’s side had come back from 12-0 down to leading 17-12 but a last minute try gave Spain a 19-17 victory.
Warren Abrahams is keen to stress the emphasis has been on continuous improvement since he took over the role at the end of last year.
He said, “I’m pleased and proud of the girls’ performances and attitude throughout this eight week programme. I have asked them to make constant progress in everything they do and they have shown huge resilience in a tough environment. They did themselves, their families and their nation proud.
“We were given a chance to play in the Rugby Europe 7s Championship despite being relegated to the Trophy in 2019 and we showed through our performances and results that we deserve our place, we have a chance now to prepare well for the Championship again next season, which was our main focus during the campaign.
“We are buoyed by the return of a number of players who had played little rugby this season due to long-term injury – players like Kayleigh Powell, Beth Lewis and Alisha Butchers, plus the likes of Angharad De Smet who hadn’t played any rugby since the first lockdown. We also introduced new players to our programme such as Jade Mullen and Kat Evans.”
Despite the positives, the position means that Wales Women won’t participate at next year’s Commonwealth Games.
“It was always going to be a difficult target to qualify, especially after being relegated from the Rugby Europe 7s Championship but we now have the chance to prepare properly for it next season, along with concentrating on Rugby World Cup.”
