Despite their opening defeat to Italy in the Women’s Six Nations, Wales coach Chris Horsman believes his side should take confidence heading into this weekend’s clash with Ireland.
Welsh duo Manon Johnes and Alisha Butchers are set to make their first starts of the Women’s Six Nations on Sunday at Energia Park.
The flankers both came off the bench in the 19-15 loss to Italy but have been moved to the starting XV and are the only changes to Horsman’s side.
Competition in the back row is rife and as such, Horsman was able to make these alterations that he hopes will make his side more clinical this weekend.
“We are extremely lucky with the riches we have available to us in the back row,” Horsman said.
“It’s a hotly-contested area and it’s a case of giving these players a chance to shine and provide the right balance in this match. Beth (Lewis) and Alex (Callender) will also play a key part as Manon and Alisha did from the bench last Sunday.
“We are comfortable with where we are as a group. We showed how dangerous we can be in the first half against Italy, our scrum was excellent against a bigger Italian team and defensively we were very good, but we need to manage our possession better and be more clinical with ball in hand.
“The girls should be confident going into the weekend. We did well to come back into the game and be with a shout of sneaking the win and we learned a lot from the game.
“All Round 1 games were extremely tight which shows how competitive the Six Nations is this year. It’s all about how you perform on the day which is what we’ve been working on.”
Wales XV: 15. Kayleigh Powell 14. Jasmine Joyce 13. Hannah Jones 12. Kerin lake 11. Lisa Neumann 10. Robyn Wilkins 9. Keria Bevan 1. Gwenllian Pyrs 2. Kelsey Jones 3. Cerys Hale 4. Natalia John 5. Gwen Crabb 6. Alisha Butchers 7. Manon Johnes 8. Siwan Lillicrap ©
Replacements: 16. Molly Kelly 17. Cara Hope 18. Ruth Lewis 19. Georgia Evans 20. Bethan Lewis 21. Alex Callender 22. Ffion Lewis 23. Paige Randall
