Her RBS 6 Nations championship appeared to be over prematurely when the influential flanker suffered an ankle injury during the 32-0 defeat to France last month.
Despite fearing the worst initially, the Cardiff Quins back row pushed herself to the limit to force her way back into today’s starting line-up which boasts five changes to the side which beat Italy last week.
“My foot got caught with the studs and I somehow pivoted over my ankle,” she recalled. “When I heard a ‘pop’ I feared the worst and thought I had broken something. I couldn’t feel my toes and I immediately thought that was the end of my Six Nations.”
The Urdd Sports Project Officer actually tore her ligaments and set herself the target of making the clash against Italy but she ran out of time.
“I was told that four weeks was really pushing it – but not impossible. I was so determined to play against Italy that every hour I would ice the ankle. I also went through the rehab and had to wear a moonboot.
“I was really disappointed not to make the game against Italy as I thought I was in my best form. I was at Parc y Scarlets watching the Under 18s instead. Afterwards I was in Starbucks and yelled with delight when I heard we had won as I was following the score updates on twitter.
“I knew how important it was to win and it was sheer relief when news came through. The way things have turned out this season, we have to make sure we win well against Scotland to give ourselves a chance of an automatic slot for next year’s World Cup.”
With two rounds of the Women’s Six Nations to go, the race for automatic qualification places for the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2014 adds further spice to this year’s Women’s Championship.
Under the agreed format, with England and France having qualified automatically, the best next two Six Nations teams in the combined tables from the 2012 and 2013 Championships will automatically qualify for WRWC 2014.
Ireland have already booked their place in the Finals, with the remaining automatic place a straight dogfight between Italy and Wales.
Wales Women v Scotland, Scotstoun, Sun 10 March. (KO 2pm)
15 Dyddgu Hywel (Caernarfon)
14 Caryl James (Cardiff Quins)
13 Elen Evans (Waterloo)
12 Rebecca De Filippo (Cardiff Quins)
11 Philippa Tuttiett (Cardiff Quins)
10 Elinor Snowsill (Bristol)
9 Laura Prosser (Pontyclun);
1 Meg York (Blaenau Gwent)
2 Carys Phillips (Cardiff Met)
3 Catrin Edwards (Cardiff Quins)
4 Vicky Owens (Pontyclun)
5 Shona Powell Hughes (Neath Athletic)
6 Sioned Harries (Cardiff Quins)
7 Nia Davies (Cardiff Met)
8 Rachel Taylor (Bristol – Capt)
Substitutes
16 Lowri Harries (Neath Athletic)
17 Jenny Davies (Waterloo)
18 Bethan Howell (Seven Sisters)
19 Gemma Hallett (Pontyclun)
20 Catrina Nicholas (Cardiff Quins)
21 Amy Day (Unattached)
22 Charlie Murray (Neath Athletic)
23 Leila Johns (Unattached).
