Three uncapped players will start for Wales Women against Ireland on Sunday. Full back Kayleigh Powell and wings Paige Randall and Courtney Keight will make up the back three while Rebekah O’Loughlin is poised for her international debut from the bench.

The Wales Women management team set out to give meaningful international game time to as many of the Autumn Series as possible in the November matches and the team for Sunday was announced ahead of last weekend’s Spain Test. The only change to that announced team sees Sioned Harries come onto the bench with Manon Johnes still recovering from a leg injury. Leadership is one of the areas Wales are looking to develop strength in depth and the captaincy goes to Siwan Lillicrap for Sunday’s Test.

Wales set-piece coach Chris Horsman has emphasised the importance of using this series to develop the squad in many ways ahead of the Six Nations and 18 months out from the next Women’s Rugby World Cup.

“Our ultimate aim as a performance programme is to close the gap between ourselves and the best teams in international women’s rugby. We are ninth at the moment and we are determined to climb the rankings.
“In terms of the autumn series, we have a chance to develop our strength in depth given we are already qualified for the Rugby World Cup. However, at the end of the day it’s a Test match and that will bring the challenges you’d expect from a Six Nations side.

“Last year’s Six Nations win over Ireland is in the past. The Irish will have moved on and so must we if we want to be competitive at the highest level. We were understandably disappointed with the result last weekend. However, we’ve been working hard to raise our game and are looking for constant improvements.”

Wales team v Ireland (the Bowl, UCD, Dublin, Sunday 10 November 1pm) :
Kayleigh Powell* (Ospreys); Paige Randall* (Cardiff Blues), Alecs Donovan (Ospreys), Robyn Wilkins (Cardiff Blues), Courtney Keight* (Ospreys); Elinor Snowsill (Ospreys), Ffion Lewis (Scarlets); Gwenllian Pyrs (RGC), Kelsey Jones (Ospreys), Amy Evans (Ospreys), Natalia John (Ospreys), Gwen Crabb (Ospreys), Alex Callender (Scarlets), Bethan Lewis (Scarlets), Siwan Lillicrap (capt, Ospreys)

Replacements: Carys Phillips (Ospreys), Gwenllian Jenkins (Scarlets), Cerys Hale (Cardiff Blues), Sioned Harries (Scarlets), Robyn Lock (Ospreys), Keira Bevan (Ospreys), Megan Webb (Cardiff Blues), Rebekah O’Loughlin* (Cardiff Blues)

*uncapped

Updated Wales Women autumn series squad (please note Lisa Neumann (RGC), Ruth Lewis (Ospreys) and Sarah Lawrence (Scarlets) have been added to the squad this week.
Forwards:
Alex Callender (Scarlets), Gwen Crabb (Ospreys), Danyelle Dinapoli (Cardiff Blues), Amy Evans (Ospreys), Georgia Evans* (Cardiff Blues), Abbie Fleming* (Cardiff Blues), Cerys Hale (Cardiff Blues), Sioned Harries (Scarlets), Gwenllian Jenkins* (Scarlets), Natalia John (Ospreys), Manon Johnes (Cardiff Blues), Kelsey Jones (Ospreys), Molly Kelly (RGC), Sarah Lawrence (Scarlets), Bethan Lewis (Scarlets), Ruth Lewis (Ospreys), Siwan Lillicrap (Ospreys), Robyn Lock* (Ospreys), Carys Phillips (Ospreys), Gwenllian Pyrs (RGC)

Backs:

Keira Bevan, (Ospreys), Angharad De Smet* (Scarlets), Alecs Donovan (Ospreys), Courtney Keight* (Ospreys), Kerin Lake (Ospreys), Caitlin Lewis* (Scarlets), Ffion Lewis (Scarlets), Rebekah O’Loughlin* (Cardiff Blues), Lisa Neumann (RGC), Kayleigh Powell* (Ospreys), Paige Randall* (Cardiff Blues), Lauren Smyth (Ospreys), Elinor Snowsill (Ospreys), Niamh Terry* (Ospreys), Megan Webb* (Cardiff Blues), Robyn Wilkins (Cardiff Blues)

Wales Women fixtures November 2019:

Spain 29-5 Wales Women, Estadio Nacional Computense, Madrid, Sunday 3 November
Ireland v Wales Women, The Bowl, UCD, Dublin, Sunday 10 November 1pm (live stream info tbc)
Scotland v Wales Women, Glasgow, Sunday 17 November 3pm BBC Alba and S4C
Crawshay’s v Wales Women, Eugene Cross Park, Ebbw Vale Saturday 23 November 2.30pm
Wales Women v Barbarians Saturday 30 November, Principality Stadium 11.45am S4C