Wales finished outside of the top 10 at the Commonwealth Games Sevens after losing 14-10 to England in Coventry.
Competing for the chance of playing for ninth place, Wales fell behind thanks to tries from former Scarlets scrum-half Will Homer and Api Bavadra. Two scores from Morgan Williams closed the gap, but it wasn't enough for Wales - who were also reduced to six men at one point when former Wales, Dragons and Scarlets centre Tyler Morgan was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on.
Wales missed out on a chance of medals after a pool stage that saw them thrashed by Canada and beaten by Fiji. They have defeated Zambia and Malaysia at the Games.
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The home nations' performances, with only Scotland reaching the quarter-finals, comes on the back of the decision from England, Scotland and Wales to merge together to become Team GB for the 2023 World Sevens Series. Wales winger Lloyd Lewis remains unconvinced, stressing that a GB team will mean more competition for places and less available spots for the Welsh players.
“Obviously it’s come out in the press that it's going to GB now for next season which is a bit disappointing as a lot of the boys will miss out,” said Lewis.
“We don’t really know what’s happening. It’s up in the air, but as a squad we’re just focusing on this, finishing the World Series in LA in August and then the World Cup in September.
“We’re just trying to enjoy our time in the jersey while we can. We had a big break during Covid as did most of the teams, which didn’t help, and then we had to start again from January.
“We missed a few World Sevens Series tournaments as it was GB at the start of the season so it was frustrating that we had to come together late and try and find our feet quickly. We had a tough few tournaments on the World Series but the amount we’ve come along since then is really encouraging and it’s a shame that hard work can’t be continued next season.
“We’re a really close group, we really enjoy playing together and it’s obviously a great privilege so we’re just enjoying the opportunity to play together while we still can.”
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