Fleming to the fore for Wales

By Steve Grace
31/03/23

Wales’ sparkling inter-play may have caught the eye from an opening 31-5 victory over Ireland in the opening round of the TikTok Women’s Six Nations, but it was the nuts and bolts up front that set Ioan Cunningham’s side on their way.

Exeter Chiefs second row Abbie Fleming in particular, was to the fore for the home side at Cardiff Arms Park. She was imperious in the engine room where she claimed eight line-out takes from the darts thrown by hooker Kelsey Jones. No other player from the opening round secured more than the hard working lock.

She also proved a powerhouse around the park, racking up 14 tackles – only back row Georgia Evans (17) made more as Wales recorded a tackle success rate of 92% in the opening round of this year’s TikTok Women’s Six Nations, the highest rate of any team last time out and their highest in the championship since registering 94% against Scotland last year. To put the icing on the cake, Fleming also managed to whip out six passes.

Only England (72%) crossed the gainline from a greater percentage of their carries than Wales (61%) in the opening round of this year’s TikTok Women’s Six Nations – Wales also had the second highest tackle evasion rate of any side last time out (27%).

Wales won their opening match of the 2023 championship after losing their last three of the 2022 campaign; they will be aiming to win their opening two matches of the campaign for the first time since 2015 (v England and Scotland).

Wales have won just two of their last 13 away matches in the Six Nations, however, one of those wins came in their first away game of last year’s championship (27-19 v Ireland).