The Osprey pairing of Gwen Crabb and Keira Bevan have been named in the Wales Women Sevens Select squad for Amsterdam 7s this weekend.
Wales Women international and Ospreys scrum-half, Keira Bevan, is buoyed by the mix of experience and youth in the Wales Women Sevens squad as they continue their preparations for Rugby Europe which kicks off next month.
Bevan is joined in the squad for this weekend by fellow regional teammate Gwen Crabb. Ospreys fullback, Lauren Smyth is named in the wider training squad for the upcoming tournaments.
Wales Women need to finish in the top eight on the conclusion of the France and Ukraine tournaments to qualify for the World Series qualifier next April.
A contingent from the training squad trained with and against the Scotland Sevens squad a fortnight ago and an experienced Wales Select squad of 13 will now compete at the Amsterdam 7s this weekend. A further training camp in Spain around the Madrid 7s will complete the Rugby Europe preparations.
Bevan said: “Our training has been really varied and with a mix of young talent and some old heads, the squad feels fresh ahead of the main tournaments,” said the 29-times capped Wales scrum half.
“We were all given individual training programmes to get our conditioning and strength back up to speed and enable us to compete with the top teams on the circuit and the short training camps have mixed things up and tested us in different ways ahead of Rugby Europe. After missing out on international sevens last season after injury, I'm really enjoying being back involved.
“It’s been good to see a few of the new players come through in the international environment – especially Courtney Keight who I’ve been impressed with at Swansea this season and is in the squad for this weekend. Equally, Dyddgu Hywel was particularly impressive in Scotland after coming back from injury.
“The Amsterdam 7s will be the first competitive tournament for us as a group so we are looking forward to testing ourselves against some of the best teams on the invitational circuit. Hopefully this weekend and the Madrid 7s will get us match fit ahead of the Paris leg of Rugby Europe next month.”
Wales Women Sevens Select squad, Amsterdam 7s (June 1, 2):
Keira Bevan; Alisha Butchers, Alex Callender, Gwen Crabb, Bethan Davies, Lleucu George, Dyddgu Hywel, Hannah Jones, Jess Kavanagh, Courtney Keight, Bethan Lewis, Lisa Neumann, Megan Webb
Wales Sevens training squad:
Alex Callender*, Alisha Butchers*, Bethan Lewis*, Bethan Davies, Courtney Keight, Dyddgu Hywel*, Gemma Rowland*, Gwen Crabb*, Hannah Jones*, Jasmine Joyce*, Jess Kavanagh*, Keira Bevan*, Lauren Smyth*, Lisa Neumann*, Lleucu George*, Rebekah O’Loughlin, Celyn Lazenby, Ellie Morgan, Megan Webb, Caitlin Lewis, Hannah Powell
*Full Wales Women international
Tournaments
Preparation Camps / Invitational Tournaments -
18th / 19th May – Training Camp in Scotland (with Scotland)
1st / 2nd June – Amsterdam 7s Wales Select
7th – 9th June – training sessions with Spain and Wales Select playing in one-day Madrid 7s
Rugby Europe
29th / 30th June – Leg 1, Marcoussis, France
20th / 21st July – Leg 2, Kharkiv, Ukraine