'We’ve had some honest conversations... the performance wasn’t good enough'

Wales head coach Sean Lynn has called on his side to “put pride back into the jersey” when they take on hot favourites Canada in Salford.

A chastening 38-8 defeat to Scotland in their opening fixture was a morale-sapping start to the Women’s World Cup campaign and life is only likely to get harder when they take on the might of the Canadians.

Lynn has shuffled his deck with seven changes and although it may be fanciful to expect a revamped XV to land a giant-killing victory, the first challenge is to raise spirits by giving a fair account of their own abilities.

“Canada are ranked second in the world and are a very good side, so we now want to make sure we put pride back into the jersey,” said Lynn.

“We’ve had some honest conversations during the week following the Scotland game and the girls have reacted positively. We all knew the performance last weekend wasn’t good enough and it was all about putting that to bed and having a really good training week.

Fixture

Women's Rugby World Cup

Canada Women

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Wales Women

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“We didn’t have the physicality we needed against Scotland around the breakdown and we need to ensure that defensively we are making our one on one tackles.”

Wales will be without both of their co-captains for the game, with injuries to Alex Callender and Kate Williams making their task even harder, but that provides room for others to step up.

“I just told the group we have to start learning and that everyone has to be a leader. We can’t just rely on Alex and Kate to lead on their own,” said Lynn.

“The seven changes I’ve made are about giving other players a chance to show what they can do. If you are not performing, you are out. Individuals have to step up and I’m excited to see how they do. If I ask the players to be brave then I have to be brave as well.”