Norkett tragically passed away earlier this month and ahead of facing the team in green, Rowland Phillips’ side are highly motivated to come away with a win.
Ireland arrive in Cardiff unbeaten and rivalling England for the title, but Wales are ready to meet fire with fire. Phillips has made seven changes to his side from the one beaten by Scotland last time out, with every player involved ready to make their mark.
“It’s going to be an emotionally charged weekend for the squad,” said Wales backs coach Nick Wakley.
“The players have been fantastic. They’ve needed time to grieve and we’ve put in extra sessions for them. There were some issues we needed to clear up from the Scotland game which couldn’t have been ignored. We’ve had a great week of training and quite a few players put their hands up for selection. It’s been an intense atmosphere, but we’ve trained very well.”
A minute’s silence will be held in memory of Norkett before kick-off, with Wales’ players planning their own special tributes to her.
Wakley added: “The shirts are being engraved for Elli and all the girls will have little things that will mean something to them.
“The emotion the girls will get from thinking about Elli and the positive impact she had is something we can draw on. What we’re looking for is 80 minutes where the players are crawling off the field. If we do that then we’ll put Ireland in trouble.”
The changes made by Phillips see a new half back combination of Keira Bevan and Robyn Wilkins. No 8 Shona Powell-Hughes and prop Caryl Thomas also come back into the pack to provide added experience.
Bevan said: “Everyone has felt the heartache we’ve been going through over the last couple of weeks, but I think it’s important we push on and do it for Elli.
“We need to be more dominant in the collisions, put teams under more pressure in defence, and play a bit more in attack. We gave the ball away cheaply against Scotland and we want to play a bit more against Ireland.
“We need to be more consistent in everything we do. Ireland are going to be aggressive and physical. It’s something we’re ready for as a squad. It is going to be difficult, but all of us have spoken and we’re going to go out there and play for Elli.
“All of us are going to paint our nails the same colour as our boots because that’s something Elli did when she was playing.”
