Carys Phillips insists she leaves her father behind when she links up with Wales Women, even though he just happens to be her coach.
The Ospreys hooker will lead Wales into the Women’s Six Nations for the first time next week after being confirmed as captain by head coach Rowland Phillips, the former Wales men’s back row forward and the national team’s defence coach under Gareth Jenkins.
Phillips junior has recovered from a neck injury and will skipper Wales against Italy next Saturday, 24 hours before the men, but she says there is no special family treatment.
“Everyone is speaking about the father and daughter thing, but when we’re in camp, he’s my coach and as a squad we have a lot of respect for him,” says Phillips.
“It’s great that this year all of our coaching staff come from professional backgrounds and they bring that expectation for us, which raises our standards in training and matches.”
Phillips has led Wales to four warm-up victories before they kick off their 2017 campaign with a revenge mission against the Italians. Wales, who finished fourth in last season’s tournament, overcame Scotland, Spain and UK Armed Forces before a thrilling comeback victory over reigning champions Ireland.
Wales trailed 14-0 to the Irish but tries from Shona Powell-Hughes, Adi Taviner and Sioned Harries, got them back in it, before Elinor Snowsill’s late penalty earned victory at Donnybrook. And Phillips is determined to keep their winning run going against Italy, who inflicted a 16-12 defeat on Wales in the final match of last year’s Women’s Six Nations.
She added: “Our prep is going very well, we’ve had four games and four wins but we know we have a lot of hard work to put in because no game in this competition is easy and we are focusing on Italy, and we’ll take it from there.”
Wales Women finished last season’s tournament with two wins. Italy’s narrow victory in the final round saw them finish level on points but in fifth spot, and their captain Sara Barrattin is determined to start 2017 the way they finished 2016.
She said: “Next Saturday’s match will be hard, we finished against Wales last season and it was extremely hard but we fought to get the victory. We imagine the next match will be exactly the same.”
Wales Women’s Six Nations Squad
Forwards: Alisha Butchers (Scarlets), Mel Clay (Ospreys), Nia Elen Davies (Cardiff Blues), Amy Evans (Ospreys), Cerys Hale (Newport Gwent Dragons), Lowri Harries (Scarlets), Sioned Harries (Scarlets), Morfudd Ifans (Scarlets), Brea Leung (Scarlets), Siwan Lillicrap (Ospreys), Shona Powell-Hughes (Ospreys), Carys Phillips (captain) (Ospreys), Gwenllian Pyrs (Scarlets), Rebecca Rowe (Newport Gwent Dragons), Rachel Taylor (Scarlets), Caryl Thomas (Scarlets), Meg York (Newport Gwent Dragons).
Backs: Keira Bevan (Ospreys), Elen Evans (Scarlets), Jodie Evans (Scarlets), Rebecca de Filippo (Newport Gwent Dragons), Dyddgu Hywel (Scarlets), Jasmine Joyce (Scarlets), Jess Kavanagh-Williams (Scarlets), Kerin Lake (Ospreys), Sian Moore (Newport Gwent Dragons), Charlie Murray (Newport Gwent Dragons), Rhiannon Parker (Cardiff Blues), Gemma Rowland (Newport Gwent Dragons), Elinor Snowsill (Newport Gwent Dragons), Adi Taviner (Ospreys), Robyn Wilkins (Ospreys).
