Wales coach Ioan Cunningham has announced his 36-player squad for the upcoming 2023 TikTok Women’s Six Nations, with six uncapped players making the final cut.
Centre Hannah Jones retains the captain's armband for the Six Nations campaign having taken on the role during last autumn's World Cup, which Wales exited at the quarter-final stage to eventual winners New Zealand.
Wales kickstart their campaign with an opener against Ireland on Saturday, March 25, at Cardiff Arms Park. Matches against Scotland, England, France and Italy follow, with the England match also being staged in Cardiff.
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Cunningham has selected 19 forwards and 17 backs. Prop Abbey Constable, flankers Bryonie King and Kate Williams, lock Charlie Mundy and centres Catherine Richards and Jenna De Vera represent the six uncapped players in Cunningham’s ranks as the head coach bids to grow the strength in depth within his side before the World Cup in 2025.
Williams – born in Swansea but raised in Auckland – is named in the squad after pledging her future to her country of birth in a bid to further her rugby ambitions. The back-rower trained with Wales during the World Cup.
Centre De Vera has been called into the senior side for the first time after impressive performances with Wales under-18s and the Development XV.
On the uncapped call-ups, Cunningham emphasised the importance of building strength in depth and using the upcoming matches as a springboard for sustainable squad development off the back of Wales’ World Cup exit.
"We’ve got one eye on the next World Cup so we have to expose players in our environment and grow our depth," he said. "Abbey Constable is a little bit more of an experienced head but she’s been really good for the Celtic Challenge team. Same with Charlie Mundy, she’s impressed and she’s got some fantastic aerial skills for line-up work. And Bryonie King is the third forward, who is young, abrasive and has got an exciting future.
"Then in the backline, there’s Amelia Tutt, who is an extremely powerful athlete which we’re excited to see her go and grow and develop in our environment. And alongside her are Cath Richards and Jenna De Vera, great young players and it’s all about getting them into our environment and exposing them to Six Nations tournaments and that will help us move forward."
Wales duo Alisha Butchers and Donna Rose will be absent as they recover from long-term knee injuries, while speedster Jasmine Joyce and full-back Kayleigh Powell are two other notable absentees, having committed their careers to Great Britain’s Sevens programme for the 2022-23 World Series following the World Cup exit.
"Not having Jaz and Kayleigh in our environment is definitely a blow for us," Cunningham said. "They’re world-class players, top people and we’d love to have them in our group. But we fully support their ambition to represent the GB Sevens and try to qualify and make the Olympic Games, which is an unbelievable honour."
On whether the pair might be involved in some degree later this year, Cunningham added: "The dialogue and communication channels between ourselves and GB is open, and we continue to talk about opportunities around whether they could feature or could not, what’s right for them in their calendar. All of that’s important. But [their absence] opens opportunities up for new players and further down the line hopefully we have more headaches with more depth to choose from."
Elsewhere, scrum-half Meg Davies and wingers Courtney Keight and Hannah Bluck return to the squad as Wales look to emulate last season’s third-place Six Nations finish, their best position in 13 years after defeating Ireland and Scotland.
This year, England and France remain the tournament's dominant frontrunners, with Ireland, Scotland and Italy all making strides towards professionalism since last year’s tournament.
The Welsh Rugby Union announced 25 full-time playing contracts for Wales Women earlier this month, double the number of historical professional contracts awarded last January in the lead-up to the Six Nations which saw Wales tout professional status alongside England and France.
On captaining the side, Jones said: "It’s a really proud moment to be named captain and we have all worked really hard as a group over the last few years and to have the opportunity to lead this squad is an honour. We want to build on what we did last year. We finished third and that was brilliant but we know we have to keep building performances and that will then transform into results."
Wales Women’s 2023 Six Nations squad — forwards: Abbey Constable, Abbie Fleming, Alex Callander, Bethan Lewis, Bryonie King, Cara Hope, Caryl Thomas, Carys Phillips, Cerys Hale, Charlie Mundy, Georgia Evans, Gwen Crabb, Gwenllian Pyrs, Kat Evans, Kate Williams, Kelsey Jones, Natalia John, Sioned Harries, Sisilia Tuipulotu.
Backs: Amelia Tutt, Carys Williams-Morris, Catherine Richards, Courtney Keight, Elinor Snowsill, Ffion Lewis, Hannah Bluck, Hannah Jones (capt), Jenna De Vera, Keira Bevan, Kerin Lake, Lisa Neumann, Lleucu George, Lowri, Norkett, Megan Davies, Niamh Terry, Robyn Wilkins.
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