Sioned Harries column: Edinburgh, Easter eggs and England
- Published
TikTok Women's Six Nations: Wales v England |
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Venue: Cardiff Arms Park Date: Saturday, 15 April Kick-off: 14:15 BST |
Coverage: Live on BBC Two Wales, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website & app; BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra; live text commentary on BBC Sport website & app |
In her BBC Sport Wales column, Wales number eight Sioned Harries talks about the elation of winning in Edinburgh and looks ahead to the challenge of England.
We knew Scotland was going to be a tough place to go. They were targeting us as the game to get their Six Nations back on track after a heavy defeat against England.
They made this pretty obvious on their media platforms - and that really pumped us up.
We usually play at Scotstoun in Glasgow, but the atmosphere in Edinburgh was electric, probably on a par with Cardiff Arms Park when we played Ireland.
The stadium was confined so the crowd were much closer and we could hear all the singing and chanting from our great travelling support.
The game was really close, especially in that first half, but the real momentum shifter was Scotland overthrowing a five-metre lineout just on the stroke of half-time when we had Kerin Lake in the bin.
It was great that we could start fast in the second half with an early try, and we took it away from them in the final 15 minutes.
Tactically we made the right changes and on-field decisions at the right time, and Ffion Lewis showed she certainly knows where the try line is, just as she did in Cardiff last year.
The final score (34-22) is the largest margin we've beaten them by in a while, it's usually closer than that. It's great to see us scoring tries more freely now, we've had two wins and two bonus points.
Wales celebrate Ffion Lewis' late try at the DAM Health Stadium
Prop idols
If you looked at us last season and at the World Cup, our problem was that we were not coming away from our opposition's 22 with points. Now we are playing on momentum and being clinical with our chances.
Our front row is getting the plaudits and rightly so. They are our very own bomb squad.
In the World Cup there was a lot of talk about the hard work of our back row that gave the half-backs an armchair ride. But at the moment it's the front row giving the rest of the pack an armchair ride!
The number of carries they make between the three of them is ridiculous, they work so hard and their performances are credit to their fitness and skill sets.
They played for 79 minutes which is unheard of. But how do you take them off when they are playing so well?
It was great to see Keira [Bevan] winning her 50th cap. I was there for her first when we beat England at St Helen's in 2015.
It was a really nice moment for her running onto the pitch in front of her parents. Shaun Connor [Wales attack and kicking coach] presented her cap.
It was fitting as Keira used to go to the Ospreys all the time and would always insist on waiting to have a picture and an autograph from Shaun.
I remember when I made a break, I looked to put Keira in for the try. Some have said 'you should have backed yourself', but I thought Keira would never have forgiven me if didn't give her the opportunity on her 50th. Anyway, neither of us scored it in the end, but we laugh about it now. We all know how sensitive scrum-halves are!
We were allowed to go out and celebrate. Ioan's [Cunningham] words were 'Celebrate the win, it's important that you enjoy the time with your team-mates, just remember we've got an early flight in the morning'.
We all convened in the hotel bar, and a few of us went in search of a karaoke bar, but it was booked out for a private party, so I didn't get to bust out Mustang Sally.
We ended up coming back to the hotel. It was quite nice actually because the Worcester girls who travelled to support were there, we had a catch up and it ended up being a really good night with both sets of team-mates.
Women's Six Nations: 'A couple of protein shakes and in bed by nine'
Focus shift to England
We go into the fallow week now, and it's always one of the hardest weeks because bodies are going to be tired and injuries creep in, but you've got to keep the momentum going and keep morale up.
There will be another showing of the bloopers reel this week and an Easter egg hunt post-training. Comedy club have been busy as well compiling stuff, but I'll be able to say more about that next week as I don't want to give too much away.
The feeling in camp is really good and we will keep focused because England are next up.
I'm glad we've got them in the middle of the campaign given the way we've started. It's a top-of-the-table clash and the onus is on us to back those first two performances up.
We're certainly not getting ahead of ourselves and thinking we're unstoppable, we have definitely got some work-ons.
Our discipline is going to be a big one. We gave away 15 penalties against Scotland, 10 in the first half. You just can't afford to do that, especially against England who are a very clinical team.
If we are ill-disciplined, we are just going to give them a piggyback down the field.
We also need to do some work at the breakdown, we need to win the race there, but ultimately we just need to be clinical in specific areas of the field.
In previous games against England, we played a lot without the ball, so it's going to be a lot of what we can do when we do have the ball.
Sioned Harries (bottom left) was part of the Wales team that beat world champions England 13-0 in 2015
Could history repeat itself?
Having another record crowd at Cardiff Arms Park gives us such a big lift. More than 8,000 tickets have been sold for England, and we want to keep breaking records.
It's going to be loud, but I'm not naïve enough to think there will just be Welsh fans. There will be plenty of Red Roses fans as well because it's just over the bridge. I am so excited for it, I really can't wait.
I was part of the team who beat England for only the second time in our history eight years ago.
I think it was just a feeling of complete disbelief at the time because they were the World Cup winners in 2014 and that was the first Six Nations after that tournament.
I remember Elinor Snowsill's perfect cross-field kick for Laurie Harries. You tend to see things like that pulled off in training, but never in a game.
It was just one of those days when everything was going our way and everything just worked. It would be nice to have one of those a week Saturday.
Everyone keeps saying there is no better time to play England with some of the players they have out injured.
But I'm experienced enough to know that you never underestimate England, you never rule them out. They have huge depth and talent in their squad.
Carys Phillips, who was also in the 2015 team, and I were going out for coffee on Sunday morning when we bumped into Gerald Davies.
He mentioned, 'England next then girls'. We were like 'yes, it's going to be a tough one'. But he replied 'yes they are a good team, but someone's got to beat them', and I guess that is true.
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