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Wales v Springboks Team

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Ioan Cunningham has challenged his Wales Women’s side to build on last weekend’s victory over Japan with another strong performance against South Africa.

Wales were mightily impressive at the Arms Park last Saturday, but arguably face an even tougher test against a physically imposing South African side this week. But Cunningham has every faith in the ability of his side to meet this challenge head on.

“Building on last weekend’s performance is really important for us as a group,” said the Wales Women head coach.

“It was really pleasing to see the team put together a plan we’d spoken about and worked on and executed. The challenge this week is to back it up and deliver another plan against a different type of opposition.

“We stuck to the gameplan which was pleasing. We wanted to be physical, drive our lineouts and go through them which was excellent to see.

“I thought the impact off the bench was very good and we want to see how the players react with a starting shirt on which is different to coming off the bench.

“It’s going to be a different challenge this weekend. Japan held onto the ball and went through the phases which challenged us defensively.

“I thought we were really good at that. This week will be a lower phase game from a defensive point of view, but there’ll be more of a kicking game, so our back-field has got to be sharp.”

One area of Wales’ game which didn’t hold up to the pressure against Japan was their discipline, with the team conceding a number of penalties in crucial moments. And Cunningham has warned his side they will have to improve this aspect of their game if they are to overcome South Africa.

“That’s a key area of the game for us,” he said. “We conceded 19 penalties last week, 10 at half-time. You are going to keep sides in the game if we keep conceding that amount of penalties.
“It’s key that our discipline improves, and we can’t give them any piggyback penalties which is something we’ve got to address and learn quickly from.”

The former Scarlets and Wales U20 coach has made seven changes to the starting XV which comfortably beat Japan 23-5 last Saturday.

Up front, there is a new front row with Gwenllian Pyrs, Carys Phillips and Cerys Hale given the nod to start the game. Georgia Evans moves to the second row and Alisha Butchers starts on the blindside flank. Behind the scrum, Ffion Lewis comes in at scrum-half to partner Elinor Snowsill, Niamh Terry starts at full-back and Caitlin Lewis comes in on the left wing.

In a late change to the team announced earlier in the week, Courtney Keight will start on the right wing rather than Lisa Neumann. Cara Hope and Molly Kelly also join the bench in place of Caryl Thomas and Kat Evans after failing fitness tests.

The selection marks first international starts since November 2019 for Phillips, Lewis, and Terry while Pyrs and Butchers start for the first time since facing England in March 2020. Cunningham is looking forward to see how they perform.
“Carys (Phillips) brings experience, and she brings an accurate set-piece game plus she’s physical,” he said.
“She’s very strong in close quarters and I thought she showed that Sunday when she came off the bench with some nice collisions close to the ruck. I’m just looking forward to seeing how she goes on Saturday.
“We reward performance it’s as simple as that. If the girls go well, and keep performing, keep training hard, are honest, and have a great attitude then they deserve to have the shirt.
“We have an attacking back three with Niamh Terry and Caitlin Lewis coming into the team.”There’s some exciting opportunities and we’ve got some great centres as well. Getting the ball to Hannah Jones will, I’m sure, cause some problems for the South African defence.
“We will be looking to bring the impact on off the bench too. It is a squad effort, and everyone contributes towards performance.”

Wales Women v South Africa (Saturday 13 November 12.15pm, Cardiff Arms Park):

15 Niamh Terry (Exeter Chiefs)
14 Courtney Keight (Bristol Bears)
13 Hannah Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury)
12 Kerin Lake (Gloucester-Hartpury)
11 Caitlin Lewis (Exeter Chiefs)
10 Elinor Snowsill (Bristol Bears)
9 Ffion Lewis (Worcester Warriors);
1 Gwenllian Pyrs (Sale Sharks)
2 Carys Phillips (Worcester Warriors)
3 Cerys Hale (Gloucester-Hartpury)
4 Natalia John (Bristol Bears)
5 Georgia Evans (Saracens)
6 Alisha Butchers (Bristol Bears)
7 Bethan Lewis (Gloucester-Hartpury)
8 Siwan Lillicrap (Capt, Bristol Bears)

Replacements:

16 Molly Kelly (Sale Sharks)
17 Cara Hope (Gloucester-Hartpury)
18 Donna Rose (Saracens)
19 Gwen Crabb (Gloucester-Hartpury)
20 Alex Callender (Worcester Warriors)
21 Keira Bevan (Bristol Bears)
22 Robyn Wilkins (Gloucester-Hartpury)
23 Megan Webb (Bristol Bears)

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.