Tough to leave house after World Cup - Dallavalle

Hannah Dallavalle (nee Jones) had captained Wales for two years prior to the 2025 Rugby World Cup

Hannah Dallavelle admits such was her disappointment at Wales' Rugby World Cup campaign that "there were a couple of weeks where it was tough to leave the house".

Wales suffered losses against Scotland, Canada and Fiji, failing to make it out of the pool stage for the first time.

That followed a successive wooden spoon-finish in the Women's Six Nations.

"You try not to dwell on it," said 69-capped centre Dallavalle who also mourned the loss of her grandmother this summer.

"Seeing people, seeing them disappointed, feeling like you've disappointed the country, and your family and friends, which I know they're not but it feels like that."

Despite underachieving at the World Cup, Dallavalle, and no doubt her Welsh team-mates, have shifted their focus to the new Premiership Women's Rugby (PWR) season which kicks off this weekend.

"That's how it goes, sport can be the best thing in the world or it can be really brutal," she told BBC Sport Wales.

"I've had the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, but it's about riding that journey and I try to improve myself daily."

Dallavalle is named among the replacements for Gloucester-Hartpury who take on Saracens in a repeat of last year's final, which Gloucester won to make it three leagues titles in a row.

Dan Murphy begins his first season as Gloucester head coach, and is a familiar face to Dallavalle having worked with Wales in their past two campaigns.

And she believes it is beneficial to have the continuity after previous coach Sean Lynn's departure to become Wales coach.

"He's [Murphy] great to be fair, he always looks after the person as well as the player which is really nice to have as a head coach," she said.

"We touched base with Wales, he was really good as our defence coach and now becoming head coach it's exciting things for him."