Sean Lynn tells Wales to ‘make sure we’re bossing it’ vs Canada

Wales head coach Sean Lynn urged his players to show leadership on the pitch as they prepare for a must-win Pool B clash with Canada at Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025.

Lynn’s side were well beaten in their opening match of the tournament, conceding in the first minute against Scotland and going on to lose 38-8 at Salford Community Stadium.

The performance led to a tough review session on Monday and few people outside of the camp will give them much of a chance against the second-best team in the world.

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Speaking about what he had told his players at the start of a big training week, Lynn told reporters on Thursday: “That we have to start learning.

“But you’ve got to be leaders, you can’t just ask (co-captains) Alex [Callender] and Kate [Williams] to be the leaders on the pitch. There are the nines, the 10s and other leaders out there who just need to make sure we’re bossing it.”

He added: “You only find this out when you’re down. In Australia you felt we had leaders because we were on that first game, we were winning and we had the momentum with us.

“But the girls just need to realise how you get back that momentum and then we’ve put some strategies in place for this week.”

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Wales need players to step up against Canada given co-captains Callender and Williams have been ruled out of the game through injury.

Lynn has made seven changes to his starting XV for Saturday’s match, with flanker Bethan Lewis set to captain her country for the first time on her 60th Test appearance.

“She’s always brought that leadership quality anyway and she’s just growing with it. This week she’s been brilliant,” Lynn said of Lewis.

“I’ve seen the leadership. [I’ve] been so impressed with Alex and Kate, even though they’re not involved, they’re still leading along with Beth, which is lovely to see.”

Lewis added: “Pulling on the jersey is a massive honour as it is, but to be able to lead the team out is massive honour for myself.”

The new captain admitted some “tough conversations” had been had in the wake of the Scotland defeat.

But Lewis insisted the energy within the camp had been good as they switched their focus towards playing a team that kicked off their own tournament with a 65-7 defeat of Fiji.

“There’s been a lot of reflection this week and, like I said, we’re super disappointed but that’s just fuel for us this weekend,” she said.

“We know Canada are a class outfit, they’re one of the top teams in the world, so we’re going to have to be on our best and that’s what we’re gonna try and achieve on the weekend.”

Centre Carys Cox has been elevated from the bench to take on Canada and she believes her side have little to lose in Salford.

“Linny wants us to be brave and he’s told us to be brave from the start,” Cox said. “Now we just need to put that into action.

“I mean, we need to play with smiles on faces and that’s something that our captains always say to us, they always say, smiles on faces.

“We play rugby because we enjoy it, don’t we? And we put a lot of hard work into it, so it would be absolutely criminal to go onto that pitch and not enjoy every moment that you can.

“So hopefully we’ll go out, smiles on faces and produce some good rugby at the weekend.”