By Luke Hawkins
FORMER Wales Women’s Rugby player, Caryl James, has called for Welsh women to play in Wales to provide role models for young girls at home.
The women who represent the national side currently play in England in the Allianz Premier 15s League.
This might raise the standards of the players because of the quality of the league but James has reservations about the Welsh game going forward if circumstances remain the same.
“It’s a short-term way of trying to improve standards in our national side,
“but for young aspiring girls in Wales they don’t have any role models playing around them on the weekends.
“You’ve got to have role models around you, playing week in week out to make sure young girls aspire to be internationals themselves”.
She also called for the pathway to the women’s national team to be improved, with there being no under 18s or under 20s teams for Wales.
The comments have come after Wales have made a poor start to their Six Nations campaign, losing both of their games with heavy defeats coming against France and Ireland.
There might be a problem in Welsh women’s rugby, but the Welsh Rugby Union were going to concentrate on this area before the Covid 19 pandemic put plans to a halt.
The Welsh Rugby Union have said that they had plans in place to boost the women’s game, with funding planned for community hubs and centres of excellence.
These facilities could be vital in raising the standard of the women’s game in Wales and as restrictions ease only time will tell.
Wales will play Scotland this Saturday, who also find themselves winless after two games against England and Italy.
Head Coach, Warren Abrahams, has suggested a good start is vital to clinching an all important result at Scotstoun Stadium on Saturday.
“The way we started both games was not good enough and we have looked at the reasons for that,”
Abrahams continued:
“we will change a couple of things this week to make sure we approach the game with more intent and purpose.
“We have to be on the front foot early on in order to give ourselves the opportunity to play the way we want to play.”
