Phillips has brought in eight players who have progressed through the Under 18 programme into his training group as the countdown towards the matches against New Zealand, Canada and Hong Kong gets ever closer.
“We have freshened things up quite a bit and development is huge for us. There will be a lot of young players without much experience who get a chance to show what they can do against Japan,” said Phillips.
“The Japanese are a very good side, but we want to give these players a chance. This is a real opportunity for them to bid for a place in the squad for Ireland.
“We’re not really thinking about the World Cup campaign at the moment, more about putting in building blocks or the future. There is huge potential in our younger teams and if the players are good enough we will give them a chance.”
Wales kick-off their World Cup campaign against New Zealand in Dublin on 9 August and Phillips has had his squad in camp for the past month. After this weekend’s game against Japan, they will have two training matches against Spain and England next month.
Reigning world champions England put Wales to the sword in the Women’s Six Nations with a 63-0 win in Cardiff as they cantered to a 14th title and another Grand Slam. That came after a promising 20-8 triumph over Italy in L’Aquila, which ended up being their only win in the championship.
“The England game allowed us to see how things are going to develop in women’s rugby in the future. The women’s game is building real momentum and England now have a lot of full-time and part-time professionals,” added Phillips.
“We have got a lot of talented young players and we have to give them support around their training, work and lifestyle. We have only been together for a month, so we won’t be anywhere near the finished article this weekend.
“It will be all about getting the basics right against Japan and there will be no pressure on the players. I need to see how this group of players develops over the next six weeks before predicting what success will look like for us at the World Cup.
“But if we can produce another 10 young players who are capable of playing at international level over this period, while we are also preparing teams to play in the Rugby Europe sevens tournaments, then that will help us moving forward.”
