WALES captain Siwan Lillicrap has spoken of the ‘pinch me’ moment of reaching 50 caps.
The 35-year-old fought hard for her first cap aged 28, so reaching half a century is all the more significant.
“I never thought I would reach 50 caps after receiving my first cap when I did. That indeed makes it very special and a bit surreal – I don’t know where the time went and how I managed to amass 50 selections.
“It reflects how far we’ve come as a team and what we’ve been through, reaching 50 caps is certainly something we can be proud of.
“We’re obviously disappointed with Saturday’s result, but we’re happy we did enough to qualify for the quarter-finals and we can get the Black Ferns another chance in their home World Cup.
“The win against Scotland was obviously important in week one as we knew it, and we can also be proud of the progress we made to earn a losing bonus point against Australia through great defensive effort. and a lot of heart. A year ago we wouldn’t have done this, even six months ago probably.
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“We know we have to put in an 80 minute performance against the Black Ferns on Saturday. We equalized them from set pieces in Auckland, so we can be happy about that, but we also have to seize our opportunities. New Zealand will have done their homework on us by now as we did on them.
“All eyes will be on the Black Ferns, there is no pressure on us but we want to come out and make ourselves and our families proud.
“The Welsh support has been fantastic here. There should be a huge home crowd here in Whangarei on Saturday. It’s a massive game. The format has changed since the last World Cup. It’s knockout rugby now. Facing one of the best teams in the world in their home World Cup is the type of occasion we all play rugby for.
