Cardiff Arms Park will host Wales Women’s Six Nations opening when they take on Italy next Sunday (Feb 2) and the former Wales prop can’t wait to get started.
The 14-times capped former front row forward coached Wales to their first Under 20 Six Nations Grand Slam and Wales Under 18 but is relishing the prospect of coaching a senior Wales side in the tournament.
He and former international back row Geraint Lewis joined the women’s performance programme in October.
He said at the official Six Nations launch, “You get a real sense of how big the tournament is from today’s event. Having started my coaching career with the North Wales academy and RGC West Under 16s, before becoming RGC head coach and then coaching international age grade sides, it’s great to be here with a senior side.
“The Six Nations is certainly one of the toughest, if not the toughest competition in the female game. England and France are two of the best teams in the world but all the other nations have invested in women’s rugby too. Whereas in previous years the outcome may have been fairly scripted, I think the tournament will be a lot more open this year.”
Horsman’s key aim this tournament, along with the rest of the coaching team of Gareth Wyatt and Geraint Lewis, is to continue the momentum created in the side’s five-match Autumn Series which included wins over two Six Nations teams in Ireland and Scotland.
The tournament comes 18 months out from the next Rugby World Cup – in New Zealand 2021.
“Anticipation is really building now and we are confident we are in a good position after the progress we made in the autumn and with a few weeks of intense training under our belt,” said Horsman. “We had a run-out against Ireland last Sunday and although we scored two tries to Ireland’s four, it was an important exercise and gave us some valuable learnings a fortnight out form the opening game.
“Our ultimate aim is to keep building momentum and improving in order to close the gap on the best teams in the world.
“That starts with Italy in our opening game. They are ahead of us in the world rankings so they are certainly one of the teams we want to chase down. They are a very good side, beating France last season to finish second in the table and beating us two years ago at Principality Stadium but hopefully we will put in a good performance at home and see a more high-scoring match than our 3-3 draw last year.
“Having been part of the Six Nations as a player, momentum is key, it’s important to get off to a good start in the opening two games.”
Wales Women were brought into the WRU performance department ahead of the autumn, which gives the players access to increased resources – and expectations.
“We are demanding a lot of the players in all aspects of performance standards – but ultimately they are demanding more of themselves too. The girls have a huge thirst to learn and that’s what you want as a coach. They take on board advice and information and we are seeing clear improvement week on week – from performance standards in training, how they approach their preparation away from the environment, and on the pitch itself. It’s an exciting time with a lot of young players in the squad.”
Click here for tickets for Wales Women’s home Six Nations games
