Wales Women co-captain Jamie Kift has set her side tough targets for the forthcoming IRB World Cup to be staged in Surrey next month.

The big hitting flanker isn’t put off by the fact Wales are in the ‘Group of Death’ alongside southern hemisphere heavyweights Australia, South Africa and tournament favourites New Zealand.

“We never the chance to play these teams so what better place than the World Cup,” said Kift who will share the captaincy responsibilities with Mellissa Berry.

“If you are going to win the World Cup you have to beat everyone anyway, so it’s a fantastic opportunity for the girls,” she added.

Wales will enter the World Cup on the back of a disappointing Six Nations campaign where they collected the wooden spoon only 12 months after claiming the Triple Crown. However Kift isn’t discouraged at all by Wales’s recent form.

“We perform a lot better as underdogs – I don’t think we deal with the pressure of being favourites going into games. Looking at things over the past two seasons, when we’re underdogs we perform really well.”