By Estea Rademeyer, at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.
Photo Credit: EsteaRademeyer/Fullview.
It had been almost a year coming, but Sean Lynn finally has a win to show for his Wales tenure. A 34-17 victory over the Barbarians at Allianz Stadium saw the hosts cross the whitewash five times, with two scores from debutant Amy Williams supplemented by tries from Kayleigh Powell, Seren Lockwood and Courtney Keight. The Barbarians, never short of fight despite their patchwork nature, hit back through Amy Rule, Bryony Cleall and Celia Quansah, but couldn’t prevent Wales closing out the contest in front of a sun-drenched west London crowd.
If Welsh rugby has been starved of good news lately, Jorja Aiono might just be the antidote. Barely out of her teens and only five caps into her international career, the lock has gone from relative unknown to indispensable in the space of a season. Against a battle-hardened Barbarians pack, she looked entirely unfazed, carrying with purpose, tackling with precision, and shrugging off opponents as though they weighed nothing.
Her trajectory has been steep: a first taste of senior rugby came via Great Britain’s Sevens programme on the SVNS circuit, before strong form for Brython Thunder in the Celtic Challenge fast-tracked her into all five Six Nations starts. She even picked up a Player of the Match award on her PWR debut for Gloucester-Hartpury. There’s clearly more to come from her, but a late try off the bench, after replacing the injured Branwen Metcalfe, was a deserved exclamation mark on a fine display.
Amid a Barbarians lineup mixing retiring veterans with players in their pomp, it was 21-year-old Claudia Pena who caught the eye most. The Harlequins and Spain centre carries herself with a maturity well beyond her years, gliding through gaps and threading passes with the kind of ease that suggests her best rugby is still ahead of her.
Having just put pen to paper on a new Harlequins deal and promised “great things” at the club, Saturday’s performance did little to dent that confidence. Few 21-year-olds play with such polish.
The value of a one-off fixture against an assembled-for-the-occasion Barbarians side was always going to be hard to pin down, though a win felt like the minimum requirement. Lynn had been candid beforehand about using the game to expose fringe players to a Test-like environment without the weight of an actual cap, and Williams made the most of hers with two contrasting tries, one built on instinct, the other on brute strength.
Yet with several regular starters either rested or simply unavailable, the squad Wales sends out for the WXV Global Series opener against South Africa on 18 September will likely look quite different. What Saturday really delivered, then, was belief, both collective and individual. Lockwood was lively throughout and capped it with a try of her own, Bryonie King put her body on the line on every carry, and Alisha Joyce banked her biggest minutes total since returning from maternity leave following the birth of her son Ralphie.
Confidence as a takeaway might sound like a soundbite, but soundbites earn their keep when they’re true.
It’s only Lynn’s second win in charge, but the manner of it, youthful, ambitious, against credible opposition, gives him real food for thought heading into the autumn.
Kayleigh Powell, speaking to S4C, reflected: “It was really good. It was class, I couldn’t ask for more, to be honest. To get the win we wanted so much is a credit to all the work we’ve put in over the last few weeks and through the Six Nations. I think all the youngsters came into their own. We want to play flowing rugby, and those girls really can play. That’s the exciting part, we keep our structure, which is what we’re building towards, but we’ve got real talent coming through too.”
Ruby Tui, lining up on the wing for the Barbarians, had nothing but praise for the hosts: “Can we say how class the Welsh women’s team are? Plenty of fight, plenty of niggle, I love that. It was fun, but I wouldn’t recommend it, coming back after so long off and playing 80 minutes against Wales. The little half-back, we’d seen her carve teams up in the PWR, and for Wales, and today, running next to her, I just couldn’t be bothered to tackle her. She’s quick. There’s a lot of talent coming through, and with more game time and experience, they’ll be ones to watch.”
Player of the match Bryonie King added: “It’s a fantastic feeling to get the win. I play alongside girls with so much ambition, so I just focused on my own game. With Alex Callender and Alisha Joyce alongside me in the back row, it makes everything easier. I had a strong Six Nations and just carried that into this game. You’ve got to keep pushing, it’s not always guaranteed. I’m honoured every time I pull on that number eight jersey.”
King’s performance was the perfect bookend to a season in which her carrying and metres made have drawn plenty of attention, though it was her defensive effort against the Barbarians that stood out just as much. At only 22, she already looks destined for the very top.