Wales bolster pack to face Italy in 6N finale
Wales have made three changes to their pack for the final Six Nations match against Italy in Parma.Prop Donna Rose is handed her first start of the campaign having deputised on the bench for rookie Jenni Scoble.Gwen Crabb, a try-scorer in France, is recalled to the second-row having been rested against Ireland.Her return sees Georgia Evans revert to number eight in place of Alex Callender, who is among the replacements after returning from injury last week.Head coach Sean Lynn admitted the changes were a response to last Sunday's one-sided 40-14 defeat by Ireland in Newport."Ireland's pack really took us at set-piece so we need to address that," he said.
"Gwen is a very good set-piece controller in the lineout and I'm hoping Alex will bring energy and composure off the bench when we need it."Wales' head coach has warned his players they must respond to their run of four losses or risk being cut from his World Cup plans.
Kayleigh Powell has been ruled out with a hamstring issue so Lleucu George retains the number 10 jersey in an unchanged Wales' backline that includes wing Carys Cox and full-back Jasmine Joyce-Butchers, both in the top six players for metres made in the championship.Wales have scored twice as many points as at the same point in last year's Six Nations but Lynn is demanding more."I'm confident that we're creating chances, however we need to start finishing off those opportunities," he said."I've told the players to be brave in attack but I'm also challenging this backline to finish things off to be able to stay on top."
Italian 'emotion'
Five of the last six games between Wales and Italy have been decided by four points or less, including last year's last-gasp 22-20 Welsh victory in Cardiff.Italy are chasing a second win of the tournament having beaten Scotland in Edinburgh and pushed Grand Slam chasing France 34-21 last week.Lynn believes there could be a highly-charged atmosphere at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi for a fixture that has been rearranged due to the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome on Saturday."I'm sure there will be a lot of emotion around the game for Italy given what happened and I'm sure they'll also be targeting this home game as a big chance to win," he said."Their driving maul put France under a lot of pressure last week and their back three are very exciting. So we need to be disciplined and defensively organised."
Wales: Jasmine Joyce-Butchers; Lisa Neumann, Hannah Jones (capt), Courtney Keight, Carys Cox; Lleucu George, Keira Bevan; Gwenllian Pyrs, Kelsey Jones, Donna Rose, Abbie Fleming, Gwen Crabb, Kate Williams, Bethan Lewis, Georgia Evans.Replacements: Carys Phillips, Maisie Davies, Jenni Scoble, Natalia John, Alex Callender, Sian Jones, Hannah Bluck, Catherine Richards.Italy: TBCReferee: Sara Cox (England).Assistant referees: Maria Latos (Germany) & Alexandra Ferré (France)TMO: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland)
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