Women's Six Nations: 'Painful' Wales results prompt calls for more WRU support
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Wales' "painful" Women's Six Nations results have prompted calls for the Welsh Rugby Union to do more to support the women's game.
Wales have so far conceded 15 tries in two Tests and worryingly have yet to register a single point.
The latest defeat, against a fellow amateur side in Ireland, led to an outburst on social media, while the players themselves were praised.
The WRU said Covid-19 had delayed the impact of its increased investment.
In a statement, the Union said it was "committed to developing the female game in Wales".
It said an increased budget to support all levels, from grassroots to elite, was approved just before the global pandemic hit.
This was alongside additional coaching appointments and performance staff for the national squad, while its hub programme to boost participation recently restarted with the rest of the community game which has been on hold for the past 13 months in Wales.
"Whilst the onset of the pandemic has delayed the impact of this increased investment, we remain confident that the agreed strategy will accelerate the development of female rugby from top to bottom," the statement said.
The WRU's former chief executive, Martyn Phillips, said last year he would like paid contracts for leading players in place before the 2021 World Cup, but that tournament has been postponed until 2022.
Wales came into this Six Nations with optimism, with new head coach Warren Abrahams promising a new style of 'heads-up' rugby.
But a harsh reality check followed with a 53-0 thumping away to semi-professional France and perhaps more surprisingly a 45-0 hammering in their own backyard by Ireland.
Wales are now on a seven-game losing streak having not won since the autumn of 2019.
"Yes it's not a great start and there's some incredible lessons in there," Abrahams told BBC Sport Wales.
"Hopefully it will make us better as a team going forward, but at this level, 96 points in two weekends and not scoring any tries is pretty painful.
"We all need to go and critically review ourselves individually. I need to do that myself, my coaching team, management, players, all of us."
But Abrahams is confident they can "turn it around pretty rapidly".
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After Saturday's loss, social media was flooded with calls for the WRU to increase its funding for the women's game, while at the same time there were was a wave of support for the players who sacrifice so much to wear the jersey.
Former Wales Triple Crown winner Gemma Hallett, an outspoken critic of the Union, said "blame the WRU, not the girls", while England World Cup winner Danielle Waterman said "alarm bells rang very loud when Rachel Taylor resigned".
Former Wales captain Taylor was unveiled as Wales' first professional national female coach to much fanfare in November 2020, but she resigned without explanation just a few months later on the eve of the Six Nations.
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Wales football and netball international Nia Jones said: "It's time the WRU started supporting and funding its women's programme properly.
"There's no way we should have a men's side winning multiple Six Nations and a women's team struggling to score a point."
Wales captain Siwan Lillicrap said after the Ireland defeat that it was "not the fashion in which we want to perform and represent our country".
"We're disappointed in our performance, the way we played, especially the first half," she added.
She was visibly emotional having played on with an injury, but on Sunday she and a few of the other players posted their thanks to supporters.
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Wales will now play in the Women's Six Nations fifth-sixth place play-off on the 24 April, bidding to score their first points of the Championship and seeking a first win to avoid finishing bottom.