Women's Six Nations: Wales excited to front up against England
- Published
Scotland 22-34 Wales highlights
The humble Sisilia Tuipulotu would not agree, but for many people Wales' impressive start to the 2023 Six Nations has been 'The Front-Row Show'.
Accepting her player of the match award against Scotland, two-try Tuipulotu first praised "our heavenly father" and then her team-mates.
Fellow prop Gwenllian Pyrs also scored two tries - and with hooker Kelsey Jones the trio set up Ffion Lewis' match-clinching fifth.
All three also played over 78 minutes.
"Pyrs, Jones and Tuipulotu. They're going to be their own girl band," said BBC match commentator Sara Orchard, as the front three finally left the field with barely a minute to go. "They've made the changes to the front row that you normally see, around 50, 60 minutes. But what a trio."
Tuipolutu, just 19, was also player of the match in the previous week's win against Ireland, scoring the last of Wales' five tries on the opening weekend.
In the 34-22 victory over Scotland the teenage forward delivered an impressive 21 carries in her eighth international, proving head coach Ioan Cunningham's belief in her form.
"Look at Sisilia, she's on fire and we're really glad that she's with us," said Cunningham.
"She's been awesome in the first two games and given us front-foot ball and an opportunity to go forward and play through teams."
Sisilia Tuipulotu has scored three tries and picked up two player of the match awards in this year's Women's Six Nations
Long careers ahead
Compared to Tuipulotu, Pyrs is already an established member of Wales' pack.
Bangor-born Pyrs, 25, earned her first of 23 caps in 2017 - just as the international career of 73-cap Elen Evans was coming to a close.
With Wales now in the second year of professionally-contracted female players, former centre Evans is impressed at the levels of the current crop, especially the two prop forwards.
"Pyrs and Tuipulotu are just playing amazing at the minute and they're two really young players as well," Evans told the BBC Radio Wales Breakfast programme.
"We've found some gems there in them and with how we are at the minute with the professional contracts we can look after these players now.
"They don't have to go into work and travel up and down the A470 like Gwenllian Pyrs did with me, they can go and relax and find the recovery they need.
"These young players have a got a long career in front of them and those two at the minute I'm sure they're the first couple of names that Ioan Cunningham puts down on his piece of paper week in week out."
Wales have only ever beaten England twice - Elen Evans played in 2015's 13-0 Six Nations victory at St Helen's in Swansea
Cunningham's next task is to pick a side who can challenge the might of England, who come to Cardiff for round three of the Six Nations on Saturday, 22 April.
After two games the Red Roses match Wales' maximum 10-point tally, but lead the table with a massively superior points difference having followed up a 58-7 victory against Scotland with an equally emphatic 68-5 hammering of Italy.
Evans, part of the last Wales team to beat England in 2015, is impressed but not daunted.
"They [England] are just amazing aren't they?" she said, "and they're so good to watch.
"But you know Wales defence, especially up in Scotland on Saturday was great, the line speed and they were holding together so that's all they have to do.
"They just have to work really hard to keep England at bay because their back line are something else. They've got a lot of players that come back from the sevens circuit so their back line are just so dangerous.
"But our forward pack has been playing really well so if we can get a platform and we can just stay with them you never know how the game will go."
Wales' forwards celebrate after setting up Ffion Lewis' match-clinching fifth try against Scotland
Jones 'excited' by England test
The third member of Wales' front row, hooker Jones, is looking forward to seeing just how far the side have progressed when they face the tournament favourites in Cardiff.
"I'm excited to see what we can do against England," Jones told BBC Sport Wales.
In 2022 Wales lost 58-5 to England in the Six Nations and 73-7 in a World Cup warm-up.
But after 15 months of professionalism, Jones hopes the current side can show the people of Wales they are closing the gap on a Red Roses side who have been professional for much longer.
"We've got a week to promote this game for the following week against England, and what an opportunity we have to go against them," Jones said.
"We're building as a team, the professionalism is slowly building, and it's exciting to see where we can go. The belief is there in the squad, and I'm excited to see what we can do against England.
"The professionalism definitely helps build confidence, we're under no illusion because it's not like everything clicks all of a sudden, but we are building and it's going to be exciting so we want people to get to Cardiff Arms Park.
"The biggest difference for us is having that rest and recovery, we'll rest on Monday and hit the ground running on Tuesday."
Jones knows a big performance from Wales' pack will be required against England, matching their outstanding contribution in Edinburgh.
"Two tries each for my props, I can't complain, it was great work," she added.
"We said we were going to win with the forwards, that's what we worked on all week, running at them, trying to go through them and then creating that space out wide. Thankfully that front-five work-rate won us the match."
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Former farmer Pyrs is also keen to stress it is not just about the 'Prop Idols' and share the praise with the rest of the pack.
"All the forwards worked really hard for that, so it's not just us props, credit to all the players.
"The first half was a bit frantic but the second half we kept composed and scored some nice tries, especially the one at the end," said the loose-head.
"That will give us momentum now winning these two games, but we know England is going to be a hard game. We'll definitely enjoy playing at home and let's hope it's a big crowd."
Wales are hoping their attendance will break the 5,000 mark for the first time in a home game, after coming close to attracting that figure for the Ireland win in round one.