“It’s very different to my first experience in Paris four years ago,” says Moore, who starts today at Queen’s University Belfast. “I’m happy with the way I’m playing, making an impact on games. I like to gee up the players, but I’ve also learnt when to be quiet. I’m still working on it, both on and off the field!”
Moore is renowned for her vocal encouragement, it seems. “I like to get people going. It’s easy sometimes in a team sport just to switch off when you think your job is done,” she explains. “But your job’s never done, so I’m constantly reminding people that we need to keep working. None of my teammates have ever turned around and told me to be quiet yet – but I’m waiting for it. The referee certainly does, though.”
She has been sharing the number nine jersey with Keira Bevan, as the coaches enjoy the luxury of being able to implement two contrasting styles at scrum-half. “We both have a different physical presence, and our experience on the pitch with rugby is different,” is how Moore describes it. “We just have quite diverse styles: Keira’s a little more controlled with her emotions, whereas I like to put it all out there.”
“We probably get the best out of each other, though. It’s good, healthy competition and we’ve formed a positive relationship through all the training and games we’ve been through together.”
Originally from Neath, it wasn’t until she enrolled at Manchester University to study PE that Moore first played a game of rugby. “I had always played netball, but I used to beg my dad to take me to go and watch my brother Thomas play for Cimla,” she remembers, adding that there simply weren’t opportunities for young girls back then to play the game. “Being from Wales especially, I was desperate to try rugby. Now the game is taking off and the WRU are doing great things for cluster clubs.
“When I come back over the bridge to work with the clusters, I’m actually a bit jealous when I see eleven- or twelve-year-olds running around playing rugby. The development of the game in Wales is massive, and making the game open for girls is just going to push us forward in the next five or six years.”
It was perhaps inevitable that Moore would eventually pick up the sport. Not only did her brother play for Welsh Schoolboys while at Neath College, but her father Wayne was capped by Wales A. “At home we’ve got his cap and my cap next to each other,” she says. “It’s the cutest thing ever. He’s a big inspiration.”
After her long-awaited introduction to the game in Manchester, Moore returned to Wales where she played a season apiece for Pontyclun and Neath. When her work as a personal trainer took her over the bridge and into the West Country, she pitched up with Bristol Ladies – the galacticos of women’s club rugby.
“We’ve got Claire Molloy, the Ireland captain in our back row, where she plays alongside England captain Sarah Hunter,” says Moore. “We joke in Bristol that we’re basically a full international team. It’s such a competitive squad, playing in a tough league where you’re up against other internationals.”
In November, the players in this Wales Women squad will return to regional competition where they will be divided into Ospreys, Scarlets, Dragons, Cardiff Blues and, in a new addition, RGC.
As for today’s battle for that fifth place spot against Canada – against whom she started last time out in Dublin – the scrum-half wants Wales to take another step step forward. “Looking back at our first game against them, there were some real positives to take,” says the 29-year-old. “There were also things to work on, of course, including our transfer from defence to attack. We’re eager to show a little bit more energy.
“It’s not about redemption. It’s about showing that we’re capable of beating a top-three or top-five team. We’ve got an open and honest relationship as a squad, and before the World Cup we might have looked at our pool and said, ‘This is going to be hard’. But throughout this process, we’ve realised that actually we can compete with some of the best sides in the world.”
Canada v Wales will be streamed live on the S4C website and the S4C Chwaraeon Facebook page.
Moore ready for second chance against Canada
Wales scrum-half Sian Moore is playing in her second Women’s Rugby World Cup, and savouring every moment of it as she gets ready to take on Canada for the second time in this tournament.
