He believes the Championship will be the most competitive women’s regional championship to date and will exclusively select his Wales squad from the five regional squads in action over the next six weekends.
The streamlined Women’s Regional Championship will be launched with a ‘Super 5s’ event at St Helen’s on Sunday (10 – 5.30) where all five regions will play each other in a series of high-paced, shortened matches.
The competition follows an intense pre-season conditioning and skills programme led by Rowland and his Wales coaching and conditioning teams.
Phillips said, “The pre-season programme has raised fitness and skill levels to give all players the best opportunity to show what they can do in a match situation and compete for places in the Wales squad for the autumn and Women’s Six Nations. We are not looking for one-off performances but will gauge consistency over the six week playing block. Our aim is to be as competitive as possible at international level and I’m confident this summer’s programme and the competitive phase will help us to achieve that.
“The pre-season programme required a high level of commitment from the girls, and the seasoned internationals among the squads showed excellent leadership qualities in driving a professional attitude to the training environment on and off the field. There are also a raft of new players who have shown they have the potential to play international rugby so it’s certainly been a positive exercise.
“The programme has not only benefitted players. There is a female coach in each regional coaching team – Siwan Lilicrap is leading the Ospreys programme, Rachel Taylor is joint head coach of RGC while Delyth Davies, Lisa Newton and Lauren Holloway are assistant coaches of the Scarlets, Cardiff Blues and Dragons teams respectively. They, along with all their male regional colleagues have gained a huge amount of hands on experience from taking ownership of their squads’ development from the start to finish of the the programme, with support from national staff.”
Details of Wales Women autumn matches will be confirmed later this month.
Tickets for Sunday’s Super 5s, along with the five regional rounds are £3 for adults with free entry for u16s.
Women’s Regional Championship fixtures
Round 1
Sunday 16 September, Pontypridd RFC
12.30 Cardiff Blues v Dragons
14.30 RGC v Scarlets
Round 2
Sunday 23 September, CSE Ystrad Mynach
12.30 Dragons v Ospreys
14.30 Scarlets v Cardiff Blues
Round 3
Sunday 30 September, Swansea RFC
12.30 Ospreys v Scarlets
14.30 RGC v Cardiff Blues
Round 4
Sunday 7 October Stadiwm Zipworld
RGC v Dragons (14.30 )
Sunday 7 October Swansea RFC
Ospreys v Cardiff Blues (14.30)
Round 5
Sunday 14 October, Parc y Scarlets
12.30 Scarlets v Dragons
14.30 RGC v Ospreys
