Pressure grows on Cunningham as losses mount

Wales face relegation to WXV3 in 2026 if they fail to beat Japan on Friday

WXV2: Wales v Japan

Venue: Athlone Sports Stadium, Cape Town Date: Friday, 11 October Kick-off: 15:00 BST

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

Pressure is building on Wales head coach Ioan Cunningham ahead of what is becoming a make or break Test against Japan.

It will be the final game of the WXV2 tournament in South Africa and, put simply, is now a game he surely cannot afford to lose.

A record defeat by Australia and an error-strewn loss to Italy have made sure of that.

Victory will likely buy Cunningham some time as he aims to convince those at the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) that he is building towards next year's World Cup.

But patience may run out if there is a 14th loss in 19 games and relegation to the third tier of the WXV tournament.

Former Wales head coach Chris Horsman says Cunningham faces major scrutiny.

But he believes the coach has enough credit - just - to survive a whitewash in South Africa, given successive third-place finishes in the Six Nations in his first two campaigns.

“As a coach the currency you trade in is results. Ioan is going to be under a lot of pressure, probably mostly from himself, and he’ll realise that," said Horsman.

"Under normal circumstances, potentially the [WRU] would look to change but I think Ioan did a lot of good in the first year and a half.

"I would give him to the World Cup. After that, let's have a look at it. Fresh ideas and maybe then would be the opportunity to have a change."

Cunningham has overseen a period of wholesale change within the women's national squad.

Improved access to training facilities, an expanded coaching staff, a new regional set-up and 37 new full-time contracts for players that, the WRU claims, makes them "among the best paid" international women’s teams in the world.

But Cunningham knows that "privilege" comes with greater scrutiny, pressure and criticism.

Despite having a large contingent of players from English champions Gloucester-Hartpury, Wales are simply not clicking.

And while they may be among the best paid, they have slumped dramatically to tenth in the world rankings.

They avoided a first ever Six Nations wipeout with a last-minute try against Italy, but were criticised for the jubilant celebrations having still collected the Wooden Spoon.

There have been record losses to New Zealand and Scotland before a first win over Australia - made up of part-timers and amateurs - was swiftly followed by their heaviest defeat by the Wallaroos, when it mattered most a week later in WXV2.

All of this while casting an envious eye across at Ireland who stunned world rugby with their victory over New Zealand in WXV1.

Former player Catrin Edwards refused to single out individuals for blame for the latest loss and believes experience will count.

“I’m not going to put the blame on the coach or the girls. Italy was just a frustrating game but at the moment, it shows Wales can’t play under pressure," she told Radio Cymru's Dros Frecwast.

"Wales have gone from winning a friendly against Australia to losing to them a week later, and from beating Italy in the Six Nations to losing now. They just need to be more consistent."

'WRU also responsible'

Horsman believes responsibility for turning around the fortunes also lies across the governing body.

"This programme is in a unique situation having started from scratch two and a half years ago," he said.

"The coaches are rightly under pressure but there are other people responsible as well.

"We have an executive director of rugby (Nigel Walker), head of performance (Huw Bevan) and head of player development (John Alder) who are perhaps even more important in ensuring Ioan and the players can perform at the highest level.

"Credit to the WRU for investing a lot of financial capital, but they've got to ensure they have the intellectual capital to support that investment."