Good things often come in pairs, as Joyce knows well. Recently graduated from Cardiff Met, she is now to be found doubly excited by her work and rugby career.
“I’ve just started as a fitness consultant at Celtic Manor,” says the 22-year-old, meaning that visitors to the famous Gwent hotel’s luxury gym can be trained by an Olympian. “I love it there, and it’s something new for me now that I’ve graduated.”
She spent the summer at home in Pembrokeshire, enjoying an equally rewarding spell as an outdoor instructor, taking people on coasteering and kayaking expeditions. One of the fastest players in the women’s game is clearly not suited to an office job.
On the rugby side, Joyce is hoping that, in partnership with Jones, she can help Wales reach new heights in the second and final leg of the Women’s Grand Prix Series this weekend in Russia. “It’s so good being able to captain the squad with Hannah, because we both bounce off each other,” she says. “We’ve got different but complementary personalities. We hope we’re setting an example to the others in the squad because we’re always trying our hardest to improve.”
Given the youthfulness of Jonathan Hooper’s squad, you’d be hard-pressed to find better role models than Joyce ‘n’ Jones. “We’ve got a lot of young players coming through,” says Joyce, before singling out one – a fellow fleet-footed athlete from West Wales. “Alex Callender, who came with us to Paris, is definitely one to watch.”
Wales – who named their squad yesterday – achieved their joint-best Rugby Europe finish in Marcoussis last month, and Joyce is forthright about how much that has encouraged the team ahead of the trip to Kazan. “We’re definitely confident about this weekend. We want to get into the semi-final of the cup and finish higher than we did in France.”
Standing in their way at the pool stage will be Scotland, Portugal and hosts Russia. “It’s an intriguing group. We’ve played them all before,” she says. “We haven’t played Portugal in a while, so we’ll go into it as if they’re the best team in the world and try and perform at our best.
“Performance-wise, we’d like to get to where we were in France. That’s not to say we did everything perfectly, but I couldn’t fault anybody’s performance – the team just clicked. We’ve got a couple of new girls coming in, so it’s exciting.”
Once this weekend is over, she’s aiming to be in contention for Rowland Phillips’s autumn squad. “I’ve been training with Scarlets a few times recently and will be playing some games for them when the sevens season finishes, so hopefully I’ll get that chance in the autumn.”
Wales kick off the final leg of Rugby Europe’s Women’s Grand Prix Series this Saturday against Scotland (09:28 BST), Portugal (12:20) and Russia (15:34).
