At the Stade Amédée-Domenech, home of Brive, Wales gave a good account of themselves in front of an estimated 12,000 passionate French supporters. Whilst France eventually took the spoils with a 39-19 victory, the Welsh coaches took heart from their side’s battling performance.
“I thought the team gave 110 per cent. It’s where we want to be, at that level,” said Young, the former Llanelli, Newport and Cardiff hooker. “Coming out here to France for our last game, in front of a huge crowd, we knew we had to front up from the start. We couldn’t let France get their tails up.”
Tries for Wales were scored by number eight Shona Powell-Hughes (her second in as many weeks) and two from tighthead Amy Evans, with fly-half Robyn Wilkins converting twice.
“In fairness to the players, they gave everything and took the game to France,” Young said. “We got into some good positions and were strong in the set-piece. We wanted to make changes early in the second half to give everybody an opportunity too, which we did.”
He admitted disappointment with the loss, but praised “a big improvement” in the team. The considerable size of the French pack – one matched only by the power of England Women – was never allowed to dominate the game. “There were some big girls in that team and some good athletes,” said Young, “so we’re just really pleased with the way our girls stood up to that.”
Young continued: “As a new coaching group, we’ve learnt a lot about the players. We know where we are and where we need to improve, whether that’s our conditioning or skill-set, and that’s what we’ll focus on going through into the Women’s World Cup and as we develop for the future.”
Wales Women are in Pool A of the Women’s World Cup (9th-26th August) alongside New Zealand, Canada and Hong Kong.
