“I’ve never given up and would always tell people not to give up on their dream. Keep striving for it. I got my first cap at 28, I’m 32 now with 31 caps and to be given the honour of leading my country is another absolute dream come true. To do it at Principality Stadium in a high-profile double-header is taking the dream to another level.
“It’s a real reward for us all to be part of this occasion and we want to show Wales and the rest of the world what we’re all about. What better way to show that than at Principality Stadium against a tough Barbarians’ side. We hope the crowd will come in early to get behind what we’re trying to do and enjoy a performance that will encourage them to come and watch us again.
“We want to represent Wales positively and as an international women’s programme, we’ve seen a real step change this autumn. We’ve been integrated into the performance department and therefore benefitted from additional support in areas such as strength and conditioning, medical, sports psychology and coaching and while there is more demanded of us in terms of performance standards, we see that as a positive thing.
“It’s exactly what we want as international players. We are being treated on a more equal footing and I think you can already see the results of that. We’re being pushed but if that means achieving our dreams, there are no arguments from us.
“We’re not going to stop here – if we keep up this momentum there’s no stopping this team. In a short space of time what we’ve managed is huge, it’s exciting to think what we can achieve in the longer term. We’re certainly not forgetting where we’ve come from but we want to keep driving standards forward.”
Wales coaches Chris Horsman, Geraint Lewis and Gareth Wyatt set out to use the five-match autumn series to develop strength in depth and improve performance standards on and off the field.
Fourteen players have made their Wales debut this month, including three – Paige Randall, Megan Webb and Robyn Lock who have earned places in the starting line-up for Saturday’s clash with the Barbarians and four more – Molly Kelly, Gwenllian Jenkins, Abbie Fleming and Kayleigh Powell – who take up places on the bench.
It is a case of objectives achieved for coach and former Wales prop Chris Horsman.
“The autumn has already been successful in terms of what we set out to do. We’ve exposed a host of players to international rugby and they have grabbed the opportunity with both hands. We’ve created strength in depth in all positions ahead of the Six Nations.
“We’ve made big demands on the girls as players, athletes and individuals over the last six weeks in order to drive performance standards and selection for this game is a huge reward for what we’ve asked of them.
“The profile of the occasion and the increased competition for places within the squad certainly made this the hardest selection meeting so far and every player in the squad has played her part in the journey but we believe this is the best equipped team to go out and make history at Principality Stadium on Saturday. We understand the historical significance of playing the Barbarians and it’s important to be part of big occasions like this to help our continued development as a squad but the biggest message I’ll be giving to the players will be to go out, do yourselves proud, but most of all, enjoy the experience.”
Wales Women v Barbarians (Saturday 30 November, Principality Stadium, 11.45am):
Lauren Smyth; Paige Randall, Megan Webb, Kerin Lake, Lisa Neumann; Elinor Snowsill, Keira Bevan; Gwenllian Pyrs, Kelsey Jones , Cerys Hale, Natalia John, Gwen Crabb, Robyn Lock, Bethan Lewis, Siwan Lillicrap (capt)
Replacements: Molly Kelly, Gwenllian Jenkins, Amy Evans, Abbie Fleming, Alex Callender, Ffion Lewis, Robyn Wilkins, Kayleigh Powell
