Wales Women head coach Rowland Phillips believes his side can raise their game for their final Women’s Six Nations Test, against Ireland on Sunday (Cardiff Arms Park, 1.30).
Carys Phillips takes the captaincy once again, and packs down alongside fellow Osprey Amy Evans in the front row. An all Osprey second row of Gwen Crabb and Mel Clay is backed up in the pack by regional teammate and last week’s double try-scorer Siwan Lillicrap in the number 8 shirt.
Keira Bevan and Lauren Smyth are named at scrum-half and fullback with Kelsey Jones and Cara Hope providing the cover on the bench to round up the Ospreys contingent in the squad.
Phillips said, "We want to capitalise on the confidence we’ve gained from the win over Scotland.
"We’ve shown a huge amount of character throughout this tournament – to hold Italy out at the end of that game and to come back from behind to win in Scotland showed remarkable attitude – and skill for such a young side.
"Despite that, I don’t feel we have shown how good a side we are and we’d like to do that on Sunday.
"Ireland are in a similar place as us. They played well against France last weekend. They have a strong back row and players who can make a difference. We certainly won’t be under-estimating them.
"However, we want to focus on ourselves, show what we can do with the ball and produce a better all-round performance. There’s a big game in us and hopefully we can showcase that on Sunday."
Wales Women V Ireland (Sunday 17 March, 1.30pm, Cardiff Arms Park). Tickets available to print at home from www.cardiffblues.com/tickets and from 10am Sunday at the WRU shop, Westgate Street:
Lauren Smyth (Ospreys); Jasmine Joyce (Scarlets), Hannah Jones (Scarlets), Lleucu George (Scarlets), Jess Kavanagh (RGC); Elinor Snowsill (Bristol Bears), Keira Bevan (Ospreys); Caryl Thomas (Dragons), Carys Phillips (capt, Ospreys), Amy Evans (Ospreys), Gwen Crabb (Ospreys), Mel Clay (Ospreys), Alisha Butchers (Scarlets), Bethan Lewis (Dragons) Siwan Lillicrap (Ospreys)
Replacements:
Kelsey Jones (Ospreys), Cara Hope (Ospreys), Cerys Hale (Dragons), Alex Callender (Scarlets), Manon Johnes (Cardiff Blues), Ffion Lewis (Scarlets), Robyn Wilkins (Blues), Lisa Neumann (RGC)