Wales criticism 'heart-breaking' but part of job

Wales lost their opening WXV2 game against Australia 37-5

WXV2: Wales v Italy

Venue: Athlone Sports Stadium, Cape Town Date: Friday, 4 October Kick-off: 15:00 BST

Coverage: Watch live on BBC iPlayer, live text on BBC Sport website & app

Wales head coach Ioan Cunningham says he and his professional players are in a “privileged position” and accepts criticism is part and parcel of the job.

Wales were beaten by part-timers Australia in their WXV2 opener in Cape Town last weekend, which opened the floodgates for negative online comments.

Wales’ performance was described as “embarrassing” with “poor fitness, appalling tackling and inept tactics”.

One person said “the Welsh Rugby Union needs to consider why they are pumping money into the women’s game”, while calls for Cunningham to go was also a common theme.

Cunningham, who has been in the role since 2021, said he “100 per cent” understood the reaction.

“The players are in a privileged position with regards to being offered the contracts and to be able to do the job that they’re doing,” he said.

“It is an honour and that comes with criticism, scrutiny and pressure.”

'Learn to deal with it'

Three-time Olympian and Wales full-back Jasmine Joyce said some of the comments were “heart-breaking" to hear.

“We’re full time athletes, everyone gets it whether you come from rugby or whether you come from swimming, you’re going to get that hate, you’re going to get that positivity. It’s definitely something as a professional athlete that you’ve got to learn to deal with,” she said.

“You get loads of positive stuff, like ‘oh my god, she’s world class’, but also it’s not always going to be that, you’re not always going to have the best performance of your life.

“I know a lot of girls look at the comments, some people like it, some people don’t, but I am definitely a person who tries to ignore that and take myself away from it and just protect my own energy.”

Fighting fit

Wales had beaten Australia 31-24 in a friendly at Rodney Parade in the previous week, which made last Saturday’s result even more baffling.

“You’re scratching your heads,” said Cunningham, who added: “What’s the difference in seven days?”

“It’s going to take time for us to get up to the standard that we want to reach. You look at what the top four teams in the world are producing, it’s going to take a bit of time for us to reach that.

“There is a lot of development happening within the group, not only from a rugby point of view, but physically as well with our strength and conditioning, that is a big area that we’ve identified that needs to be improved for us to close the gap on those bigger nations.

“There is pressure, expectation and we have to adapt and learn quickly as a group, but also there is great young talent coming through that we want to utilise and get our hands on, because their ceiling and growth is untapped at the moment.”

Irish inspiration

In the WXV1 competition, Ireland stunned world champions New Zealand with a 29-27 victory in Vancouver, while Scotland were comfortable 19-0 winners over Italy in WXV2.

Those results prompt concerns that Wales are being left behind their Six Nations rivals with the Rugby World Cup being less than a year away, but that was something Cunningham played down.

“Credit to Ireland,” he said.

“I think we have to remember they lost 88-10 to England in the Six Nations after they beat us, so for them to achieve a win over the Black Ferns was absolutely fantastic and I am delighted for them and their coaching team, they have done some great work in a short space of time.

“What I would say they seem to have got their infrastructure right by getting all of their players back in Ireland and playing for their provinces so they can manage their players very well.

“They can put them on the best programmes, they can give them the best rest periods. Our players will be challenged this season with a condensed PWR (Premiership Women’s Rugby). They are going to be asked to play a lot of rugby before the Six Nations and that is something we have got to try and push to make sure players are not burnt out.”

Joyce said the Irish have inspired them as they aim to bounce back on Friday against Italy.

“For the girls to go out there and actually beat New Zealand was something really special for them,” she said.

“We’re like ‘why can’t it be us, why can’t it be us?’, but it’s something you build for and dream of, and it almost makes the dream a reality.”