Women's Six Nations 2023: Wales' professionalism is 'good for everyone'
- Published
Tatyana Heard scored a try in each of England's 2023 Women's Six Nations wins so far
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: Watch on BBC Two, iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app; listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra; live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app. |
Wales' increasing professionalism will benefit all Women's Six Nations teams, says England centre Tatyana Heard.
The two unbeaten sides play each other on Saturday at Cardiff Arms Park, which is sold out for a Wales women's match for the first time.
England have been professional since 2019, while Wales first got contracts in January 2022.
"It's only going to benefit all of us if the game gets more competitive," said Heard.
World number one side England have not encountered much competition in the 2023 tournament so far.
The Red Roses beat both Scotland and Italy by more than 50 points as they seek a fifth successive Women's Six Nations title.
Into their second year of professionalism, Wales have shown improvement in opening victories against Ireland and Scotland.
"It's amazing to see people reaping the rewards from professionalism," Heard added.
"Throughout the Six Nations, we want to be competing with everybody. It makes it so much more exciting for fans and we want to grow our fan-base."
England's attack pushes boundaries
England prop Sarah Bern hailed Wales' "vast improvements" and said the gap to the Red Roses - who won this fixture 58-5 last year - "will close over time".
Bern noted that Wales have "a lot more structure in their game" since being given contracts, but promised more exciting play from her own side too.
England favoured a forwards-focussed approach at the 2022 World Cup, where they narrowly lost the final to New Zealand.
In their last Six Nations outing against Italy, only two of England's 12 tries were scored by a forward and Bern confirmed the side have "been working on variation".
"Potentially at the World Cup we fell into a trap of having a very controlled game, kicking to the corner and very set-piece driven," Bern said.
"We are trying to push the boundaries and try different things."
Women's Six Nations: Abby Dow and Jess Breach star in England's 12 try victory