Wales Women head coach Rowland Phillips has made five changes for England’s visit to Cardiff Arms Park on Sunday (12.30pm). Up front, 18 year old flanker Alex Callender has been handed her first start after making her debut against France in the opening game of the tournament and Mel Clay returns in the second row after recovering from a leg injury. They replace Manon Johnes and Natalia John. In the backs, 50-times capped Elinor Snowsill will start at full-back, Hannah Bluck will start at inside centre and Jess Kavanagh starts on the left wing in place of Lauren Smyth, Alicia McComish and Lisa Neumann.

Rowland Philips has made two changes and two positional to the Wales Women side to face Italy in Lecce on Saturday as he backed his players to bounce back from the defeat to France. The Head Coach has named a new second row partnership with Ospreys locks Natalia John and Gwen Crabb earning their second starts while Siwan Lillicrap moves to No 8 to win her 25th cap and Beth Lewis switches back to the blindside.

Wales Women have been told to toughen up by head coach Rowland Philips who has made two changes to his team for their Six Nations opener against France in Montpellier on Saturday night (9pm local time). Scarlets pair Hannah Jones and Alisha Butchers return to the side. Jones will partner Alicia McComish in the centre, while Butchers returns from injury to start on the blindside flank. There is a reshuffle in the back row with Beth Lewis starting at No.8 in place of injured Sioned Harries and Manon Johnes starting on the openside.  “Physicality will be key against France on Saturday,” said Phillips.

Former Wales centre Elen Evans believes the depth of the current Wales women’s squad is stronger than ever as they bid to overcome injury problems ahead of the Six Nations. With No.8 Sioned Harries and prop Brea Leung both ruled out of the tournament, coach Rowland Phillips will be forced to test his resources when Wales start their campaign in France at the Altrad Stadium in Montpellier, on Saturday 2 February, kick off 8.00pm. Evans, who won 73 caps for Wales, will be part of S4C’s Clwb Rygbi Rhyngwladol commentary team who will broadcast three of Wales women’s matches during this year’s competition.

Wales Women’s final match of the autumn international series, against Canada, will be broadcast live online by S4C. Rowland Phillips’ side will host the team currently fourth in the World Rugby rankings at Cardiff Arms Park on Saturday, 24 November. Coverage of the match will be shown live on the S4C Clic website, s4c.cymru/clic, and the Clwb Rygbi Facebook Live page. Coverage starts at 11.25am, with kick off at 11.30am. Rhys ap Wiliam will be in the commentary box alongside former Wales international Caryl James.

Rowland Phillips will make changes to his Wales women’s team to face Hong Kong, despite their convincing weekend win over South Africa. The Wales coach saw his side dominate the South Africans and emerge 19-5 winners, but he now wants to see who else in his extended squad of 45 is up to the task of Test rugby.

Wales Women have named 20 uncapped players in their enlarged squad of 44 players for their autumn series. Their plan is to get the new players up to the required level for international rugby before the Women’s World Cup in 2021. Head coach Rowland Phillips’s team meet South Africa, Hong Kong and Canada on consecutive weekends in November. The games against the Springboks and the Canucks will take place on the morning of the men’s matches at the Principality Stadium, making it a full day of rugby for supporters in Cardiff.

Wales Women have been given autumn fixtures aimed at linking with the men’s national team matches in November. The women will play South Africa, Hong Kong and Canada on successive weekends at Cardiff Arms Park as they host three autumn Tests for the first time. The idea is that fans can watch all the action in a day-long stretch of rugby in Cardiff, for two of those three weekends. The other women’s match is being played on the day before the men’s team face Tonga.

Olympic Sevens specialist Jaz Joyce will return for Wales Women this Sunday when they face Italy at the Principality Stadium. Wing Joyce and scrum-half Keira Bevan and are involved for the first time in this year’s Six Nations tournament. Bevan returns from an ankle injury suffered on international duty during the autumn, while Joyce has been involved in Sevens preparations for next month’s Commonwealth Games in Australia.

Sioned Harries will return to face England this weekend and earn her landmark 50th cap for Wales Women. The Scarlets No.8 missed the opening Six Nations victory over Scotland as she was on sevens duty in Australia, but comes straight back into the side to face the defending tournament champions at the Twickenham Stoop on Saturday. Harries made her debut for Wales at the 2010 World Cup and is a regular for Wales on the sevens circuit.

Wales have been drawn in Pool D alongside Fiji, Uganda and Sri Lanka for the men’s rugby sevens at the Commonwealth Games – with Wales women in line to meet England, Australia and Fiji. The draw took place on Wednesday for the tournaments which will be part of the Games in Australia on the Gold Coast from April 13 to 15. The men’s event features 16 teams, including defending champions South Africa, four-time winners New Zealand, Olympic champions Fiji and hosts Australia.

Coach Rowland Phillips has picked 10 uncapped players in his Wales Women Six Nations squad. Phillips has named the new faces as part of a squad of 36 with potential debutantes among forwards and backs. The new players are Ospreys trio Natalia John, Amy Thomas and Cara Hope, Scarlets’ Beth Lewis and Cardiff Blues’ Awen Prysorin the forwards; Ospreys’ Alecs Donovan, Cardiff Blues’ Hannah Bluck, and Scarlets trio Jade Knight, Lisa Neumann and Angharad De Smet among the backs.