Wales endure intense pre‑season as they prepare for WXV after slip to 12th

Wales players have been undergoing intense pre‑season sessions at their training base, with the 46‑strong extended squad in camp since 3 August as they prepare for next month's WXV Global Series. The side have fallen to 12th in the world rankings after a run of poor results and have lost their last nine competitive fixtures.

Sweat was visible on Alisha Joyce and Georgia Evans as they emerged from the spin bike chamber at the camp, collapsing to the floor while head coach Sean Lynn offered encouragement; Maisie Davies changed the gym playlist to "It's my birthday" as the forwards chased personal bests and backs were put through drills by Ashley Beck, with uncapped Amy Williams noted in training. Three weeks of pre‑season work are almost complete and the coaches face the task of trimming the squad ahead of the WXV Global Series, with Neumann named in Wales' extended WXV training squad.

Fitness is a central focus under strength and conditioning coach Gareth Harris, who is pictured marshaling players through intense interval runs on the main pitch while Keira Bevan, wearing a social media microphone, raced an opposite number to a marked cone. Harris set the tone on physical preparation, saying: "We need to work harder." He added: "We know where we are from a physical perspective and it is about moving that dial forward. A lot of the girls are pretty sore, but that's okay, it's all in the plan."

Harris praised the squad's attitude and ownership of standards, telling reporters: "You really see the girls going 'this is important for us'." He continued: "We want to be better. We want to be the best team we can be. We don't just want to turn up to the international stage, we want to dominate games. "There's ownership of the work that they're doing and ownership of our standards and how we elevate those standards and accountability to each person. "Everybody is going 'this is what I expect of you', which is perfect for us. "I think we'll see a different Wales this time round." Harris linked up with Wales before last summer's Rugby World Cup.

Forwards coach Steve Salvin, who joined Lynn's backroom staff on a permanent basis in the summer alongside Ashley Beck, said the coaching group had moved from working in silos to a more unified approach after the 2026 Six Nations. "The four of us [coaches] were thrown together a little bit for the Six Nations, firefighting would be the wrong way to put it but obviously we were working in silos to get things sorted. Now we can be much more cohesive and collective around the way we go about doing things," Salvin said. He added: "We feel like there's growth in our set piece, our attack, our defence, we're essentially trying to cover all bases. "During the Six Nations we performed reasonably well for probably 50 to 60 minutes, so one of the things we really need to go after for this series of games is performing for 80 minutes. "If we do that, we'll give ourselves a much better chance of coming out the right side of the results."

Since Sean Lynn took charge in March 2025 Wales have recorded only two wins: the Barbarians fixture in June and the first Test against Australia last summer. The autumn WXV series is being viewed within the camp as an opportunity to secure victories and climb back up the rankings, where Wales were as high as sixth three years ago, with the new‑look WXV feeding into 2029 Rugby World Cup qualification and a first ever Women's British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand next September cited as additional stakes.

Wales will open their WXV campaign against South Africa at Cardiff Arms Park on 18 September, host the USA on 26 September and then travel to Japan for Tests on 23 and 31 October, with the squad set to be reduced ahead of that programme.