His side may have gone down by six tries to two, but they led 7-5 at the end of a highly competitive first half and he managed to blood a number of new players at the start of what is a vital World Cup year.
Having already introduced No8 Gwenan Hopkins, scrum half Sian Jones, wings Nel Metcalfe and Cath Richards, full back Jenny Hesketh and hooker Mollie Reardon over the past year, he gave Wales U20 trio Mollie Davies, Alaw Pyrs and Rosie Carr.
It what was the first of at least 13 games over a 12-month period, culminating in the 2025 World Cup in England. That is set to put unprecedented pressure on the players and why Cunningham is seeking to build strength in depth and increase competition for places.
“We’re delighted we’ve been able to expose some of our new talent to Test level rugby. I told the team to ignore the score because I thought there were a load of positives,” said Cunningham.
“Our defence in the first half was excellent but we needed a bit more territory and to hold onto the ball a bit longer. We can create opportunities and score points when we hold onto the ball and so those are lessons we can learn.
“We had six U20s players from the summer on the field in the last 20 minutes and we’ve grown some leadership by giving Keira Bevan the captaincy. We’ve also got Alex Callender, Abi Fleming, Carys Cox, Georgia Evans, Hannah Jones and Carys Phillips to bring back into the group.
“When you consider all that, and the need to grow the depth within the squad, it means competition is growing.”
Wales will have one more game before heading to South Africa for WXV2 later this month when they meet Australia at Rodney Parade on Friday 20 September. That will be a week before the two teams clash for real in Cape Town on 28 September.
Wales will also face Italy on Friday, 4 October and Japan on 11 October as they try to earn promotion back to WXV1.
Returning centre Meg Webb and replacement wing Nel Metcalfe crossed for the two Welsh tries at The Hive Stadium, with Bevan converting the first of them to give Wales their slender 7-5 interval lead.
“It was a great honour to captain my country and the girls responded really well. We are in a bit of transition at the moment as we try to grow the depth of talent in our pool and our main goal in WXV2,” said Bevan.
“It was a typical Wales v Scotland match, and we wanted to start the first half well. We showed elements in our game where we can punish teams when we keep the ball.”
There were more than 80 players taking part in trial matches for Brython Thunder and Gwalia Lightning on Sunday, 8 September as the search for new talent continues at all levels.
