Welsh Women V French Women

The team remains unchanged from the squad that beat Ireland 13-9 in Limerick a fortnight ago. Centre Melissa Berry captains the side for only the second time with Louise Rickard, who helped make the try against Ireland, at Outside Centre. Naomi Thomas plays her second game in place of Non Evans at Full Back and will be looking to build on her player of the match performance out in Ireland.
Rhonnie Owens retains her place at Scrum Half with former Welsh U19’s star, Kerry Jenkins, having to be content with a place on the bench. The Welsh forwards will face tough competition from an experienced French front row, who have collectively earned over 100 caps.
The Welsh forwards will have to draw on lessons learnt from the Ireland game if they are to better their French counterparts. Having equalled and at times bettered their opponents in the Autumn internationals, the pack’s performance in Ireland was disappointing and they will be looking to rectify this on Friday evening.
This will have to be done without world record cap holder Liza Burgess who has received a 3 match ban following an incident in the Irish game. Her place in the starting line up goes to Clare Donovan with Kath Foale promoted from the A team on to the bench.
Fly Half, Awen Thomas will be hoping to increase her points total for the competition, as she kicked 8 of the 13 points against Ireland.
National Coach, John Williams commented, ‘We have had a good start to our Six Nations campaign with the win in Ireland, but there are still lessons to be learnt. The girls are prepared for a challenging game and it has the potential to be an impressive display of rugby from the Welsh team.’
Both sides will want to continue their winning form. France won their first game 24-0 against Spain and will be hoping to keep a clean slate. The game kicks off at 7.15pm.
Under 16’s enter for free. Adults are £5 at the gate.