Wales women's national rugby union team
| Union | Welsh Rugby Union | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Emblem(s) | The Prince of Wales's feathers | ||
| Ground(s) | Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff[1] | ||
| Coach(es) | none | ||
| Captain(s) | Siwan Lillicrap | ||
| |||
| First international | |||
 Wales 4–22 England  (Pontypool, Wales 5 April 1987) | |||
| Largest win | |||
Wales 77–0 Germany  (Barcelona, Spain 17 May 2002) | |||
| Largest defeat | |||
| England 83–11 Wales (Swansea, Wales 10 April 1999) | |||
| World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 6 (First in 1991) | ||
| Best result | 4th place, 1994 | ||
The Wales women's national rugby union team first played in 1987. Wales plays in the Women's Rugby World Cup and the Women's Six Nations Championship.
History
Wales Women have played as a team officially since 5 April 1987 when a Wales Women team, led by Liza Burgess, took on an England Women side at Pontypool Park.[2] Prior to 1987, Welsh players were selected to represent Great Britain with the first representative side featuring players from Wales running against France at Richmond Athletic Ground in 1986. Great Britain played as a team on several occasions until 1990, beating Italy in their final match. Wales have played England every year since 1987.
Wales hosted the first Women's Rugby World Cup in Cardiff in 1991 and since then they have participated in a further four of the five tournaments finishing fourth in 1994, their highest ever finish.[3] The IRB adopted the competition in 1998, which was won by the New Zealand Black Ferns who also won the tournaments in Barcelona in 2002 Edmonton, Canada in 2006.
The Welsh Women's Rugby Union was created in 1994 charged with promoting and governing the development and practice of Women's Rugby in Wales; the other three home unions also took charge of their own administration effectively ending the function of the WRFU in the process. The WWRU also became affiliated to the Welsh Rugby Union at the same time.
The creation of four separate home unions for Women's Rugby in Great Britain also saw the introduction of the Women's Home Nations competition with the first set of internationals taking place in 1995. Wales Women's early years in the tournament saw victories only against Ireland Women . Wales Women also remain the only touring team from Wales to have won a Test series in South Africa, beating the Bokkies by two Test to nil back in 1994.
From 2004 to 2006 a policy of selecting only players based in Wales resulted in a series of poor results – and failure to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. When the policy was reversed the team immediately recorded their best Six Nations performance, with a victory over France in 2006, wins over Scotland in 2006 & 2007, ending a ten-year drought of wins against their Celtic opponents, and culminating with victory over England in 2009 on their way to a Triple Crown. The National 7s squad lifted the European 7s title in 2006, beating England in the final but narrowly failed to secure a place in the 2009 Rugby World Cup 7s. In 2007 Wales also re-entered the FIRA Championship, using the tournament to give tournament experience to its development team.
Current squad
Squad for 2018 Women's Six Nations Championship:[4][5]
Caps accurate prior to the beginning of the tournament.
| Player | Position | Date of Birth (Age) | Caps | Club |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carys Phillips | Hooker | 12 November 1992 | 36 | Ospreys
|
| Kelsey Jones | Hooker | 4 September 1997 | 2 | Ospreys
|
| Amy Evans | Prop | 30 September 1990 | 18 | Ospreys
|
| Cerys Hale | Prop | 4 April 1993 | 12 | Dragons
|
| Gwenllian Pyrs | Prop | 28 November 1997 | 5 | RGC
|
| Caryl Thomas | Prop | 19 February 1986 | 39 | Scarlets
|
| Megan York | Prop | 16 April 1987 | 29 | Dragons
|
| Cara Hope | Prop | 24 November 1993 | 0 | Ospreys
|
| Melissa Clay | Lock | 1 January 1990 | 15 | Ospreys
|
| Siwan Lillicrap | Lock | 21 September 1987 | 15 | Ospreys
|
| Natalia John | Lock | 15 February 1996 | 8 | Ospreys
|
| Alisha Butchers | Flanker | 14 June 1997 | 14 | Scarlets
|
| Nia Davies | Flanker | 7 December 1992 | 14 | Scarlets
|
| Sioned Harries | Flanker | 22 November 1989 | 49 | Scarlets
|
| Lleucu George | Flanker | 21 January 2000 | 2 | Scarlets
|
| Awen Prysor | Flanker | 0 | Cardiff Blues
| |
| Beth Lewis | Flanker | 0 | Scarlets
| |
| Shona Powell Hughes | Number 8 | 8 July 1991 | 46 | Ospreys
|
| Amy Thomas | Number 8 | 0 | Ospreys
| |
| Rhiannon Parker | Scrum-half | 18 August 1989 | 2 | Cardiff Blues
|
| Jade Knight | Scrum-half | 0 | Scarlets
| |
| Ffion Lewis | Scrum-half | 0 | Scarlets
| |
| Elinor Snowsill | Fly-half | 27 June 1989 | 44 | Newport-Gwent Dragons
|
| Robyn Wilkins | Fly-half | 1 April 1995 | 29 | Ospreys
|
| Jodie Evans | Fly-half | 25 May 1991 | 5 | Scarlets
|
| Rebecca De Filippo | Centre | 25 February 1994 | 23 | Newport-Gwent Dragons
|
| Gemma Rowland | Centre | 7 February 1989 | 17 | Newport-Gwent Dragons
|
| Kerin Lake | Centre | 24 May 1990 | 16 | Ospreys
|
| Hannah Jones | Centre | 14 November 1996 | 18 | Scarlets
|
| Rhiannon Nokes | Centre | 13 February 1989 | 0 | Ospreys
|
| Alecs Donovan | Centre | 0 | Ospreys
| |
| Jasmine Joyce | Wing | 9 October 1995 | 5 | Scarlets
|
| Jess Kavanagh-Williams | Wing | 20 February 1990 | 6 | RGC
|
| Hannah Bluck | Wing | 0 | Cardiff Blues
| |
| Angharad De Smet | Wing | 14 June 1997 | 0 | Scarlets
|
| Lisa Neumann | Fullback | 0 | RGC
|
Notable players
In 2018 Liza Burgess was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame. In 2019, Rafiuke Taylor became Wales women's first ever dual code rugby international.
Results summary
(Full internationals only)
Correct as of 31 October 2016
| Opponent | First game | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Australia
|
2002 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.00% |
 Canada
|
1991 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 37.50% |
| England
|
1987 | 33 | 2 | 0 | 31 | 6.06% |
 France
|
1994 | 22 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 18.18% |
| Germany
|
1998 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% |
 Ireland
|
1996 | 21 | 12 | 0 | 9 | 57.14% |
 Italy
|
1998 | 16 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 68.75% |
 Kazakhstan
|
1994 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 60.00% |
 Netherlands
|
1988 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 40.00% |
 New Zealand
|
1991 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.00% |
 Russia
|
1998 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% |
 Samoa
|
2002 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00% |
 Scotland
|
1993 | 28 | 15 | 0 | 13 | 53.57% |
 South Africa
|
2004 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 66.67% |
 Spain
|
1991 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 22.22% |
 Sweden
|
2007 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 66.67% |
 United States
|
1993 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.00% |
| Summary | 1987 | 172 | 63 | 2 | 107 | 36.63% |
Results
See Women's international rugby for information about the status of international games and match numbering.
Full internationals
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
- Notes
^a Wales only sent its development squad to the 2007 FIRA tournament.
Other matches
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References
- ^ Wales Women's venue
- ^ "Historic day for England Women's Rugby". rfu.com. 5 April 2012. Archived from the original on 9 July 2013. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
- ^ "Women's Rugby World Cup". RugbyFootballHistory.com. p. 1. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
- ^ https://www.sixnationsrugby.com/en/women/squad_wales_women.php
- ^ http://www.wru.co.uk/eng/matchcentre/squads_wales_women.php
External links
- The Welsh Rugby Union
- Bred In Heaven influential Welsh rugby discussion site*Welsh rugby news from icwales
- Welsh rugby union news from Planet Rugby
- Welsh Rugby Fans New website dedicated to Welsh rugby fans
- Sports Council of Wales Welsh Sports Hall of Fame
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