Cohesion was the focus for new Wales Women head coach Warren Abrahams during his first training camp of 2021.

Having been in post just over a month, Abrahams has spent time watching the Welsh performances in the Allianz Premier 15s and getting to know players and staff but the two-day camp was a welcome opportunity for quality face to face time with an enlarged training squad.

“We achieved our key aims on the weekend. The main thing was to learn more about the players. The more we understand them as individuals and as a team, that’s where we can make them better as players,” said Abrahams.

“The ultimate goal at the moment is to develop cohesion. We have to have the right people and make sure we work incredibly hard on those relationships between players and with management. Everything is tailored to making the team better and we also had some meaningful conversations around the legacy this team wants to leave for the next generation of Welsh women’s rugby and this team has to be the role model for that. That is a long-term goal.”

Lisa Neumann

Lisa Neumann attacks the ball during training

Abrahams is buoyed by what he’s seen so far: “The vast majority of this training squad play in the Allianz Premier 15s and our players aren’t just making up the numbers. They’re putting down some big markers – just look at Kayleigh Powell and Hannah Jones who both earned a Player of the Match recently and Jaz Joyce who was Player of the Month for December. We’re really proud of how well our players are doing, it’s great for the programme and those experiences are just going to make them better.”

Siwan Lillicrap added, “It’s been nice to get together so soon in the New Year – the first step in a huge year ahead. The focus this weekend was on building a foundation and exploring what we’ve got as a squad.

“I think we absolutely achieved that, the relationships are developing along with a confidence in the squad. It’s been a tough, challenging camp but that’s what you want as we build towards the Six Nations and Rugby World Cup.”

Lillicrap welcomed the input of the new-look coaching team, former Wales captain and Colwyn Bay head coach Rachel Taylor coming in as national skills coach and former Ireland international and Penclawdd forwards coach Sophie Spence joining the set-up as Wales’ World Rugby coaching intern.

“Warren has been very inspirational for us already. It feels like he’s been in post much longer as we’ve done a lot of work on zoom already. It’s great to have Rachel on board. She’s a role model for many of us with what’s she’s done on the field as Wales captain and off it as a coach and Sophie too with her international experience and coaching knowledge.”

Wales Women

Following the announcement that a GB Sevens team will participate on the World Series ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, Jasmine Joyce is looking forward to a bumper year.

She said, “With lockdown, I was looking forward to the camp all week as were most of the girls.
“The new coaching staff are awesome, many of us played alongside Rachel Taylor so it’s great to have her on board in a different sense.”
Joyce was named Allianz Premier 15s Player of the Month for December and has scored seven tries in the competition this season. “I’m loving playing with Bristol too, playing good game time in games week in, week out. Almost all of our Wales squad are playing in the Allianz Premier 15s which is the best league around so that’s only going to help us.

“2021 is going to be a busy year, hopefully anyway! “I’ve always wanted to be on the World Series circuit, and playing as GB Sevens is a great opportunity to bond as a team ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.

“I won’t change what I’m doing at the moment, I’ll keep trying as hard as I can, playing alongside world class players and keep up my speed and gym work. My aim is obviously to go to the Olympics and Rugby World Cup but first we have the Six Nations so will concentrate on that and keep playing in the Prem.”