By Hannah Blackwell
The sun in Parma may have made everyone feel good in the Wales camp, but the only thing the players want this weekend is the result that will keep them in third place in the TikTok Six Nations.
A third win in the championship is the goal that has been set for Hannah Jones’ side and after Italy were turned over in Scotland last weekend it is a result that appears to be within range.
The ultimate prize for a third-place finish is a trip to join the best teams in the world in the new tournament being launched this summer by World Rugby.
The three-tier annual global women’s international 15s competition is part of a restructuring of the Test calendar.
It is hoped WXV will revolutionise the women’s international rugby landscape, providing for the first time a meaningful pathway for all unions and a competitive springboard towards an expanded 16-team Rugby World Cup in 2025.
The top three teams in the 2023 Six Nations will join the best three sides in the southern hemisphere to play in the inaugural competition.
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At present, Jones’ Welsh side is in third, needing just a point or any kind of positive result against the Italians to achieve their goal.
The Scots are in fourth, five points behind Wales and with a much inferior points difference. They face Ireland on ‘Super Saturday’, with England hosting France in a top-of-the-table Grand Slam deciding clash at Twickenham.
“It’s pivotal now that we grasp this opportunity against Italy and make sure we finish third.
“Italy is not a game to look past as they have threats all over the place and you never know just what they are going to come with,” admitted Wales lock Georgia Evans.
“We need to start fast and we need a complete performance. We must show consistency throughout the whole of the game.
“We need to start and finish strongly because we know they are a strong side. It’s about our own performance – the onus is on us.
“That is what we’ve looked at this week rather than the opposition. We know if we get those things right, we can score the points.”
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The challenge is to stitch together the first half showing against England with the second half performance in France. If they can do that then they will be on the right track to make it three wins in the campaign for the first time since 2009.
“This will be a test of whether we can deliver an 80 minutes performance against a very good Italy side, who we’ve lost our last two games against,” added Evans.
“There’s a fair bit riding on this individual game, but you have to look at the tournament as a whole to measure our progress and development. We pride ourselves on going toe to toe, but the only way to get better is to beat the top sides.
“It’s never been our intention to leave it to the last game to deliver that 80 performance, but I feel mentally and physically we are ready. We are excited for this challenge.
“We are ready to right some wrongs.”
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