By Phil Campbell

Wales’ U20 women’s captain Branwen Metcalfe has vowed her side will be back stronger after falling to a 27-10 defeat to Ireland in their 2025 Six Nations Women’s Summer Series opener.

The hosts showed determination throughout the physical encounter, reducing Ireland’s advantage to 10-5 and 15-10 during the match through scores from Savannah Picton-Powell and Seren Singleton.

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But tries from Irish quintet Sophie Barrett, Robyn O’Connor, Hannah Clarke, Jemima Adams-Verling and Ellie O’Sullivan-Sexton ultimately put the game out Wales’s reach at the Centre for Sporting Excellence in Ystrad Mynach, Caerphilly.

However, Metcalfe insisted her charges won’t dwell too much on the defeat and that they will work hard to improve before they next take to the field.

“We’re Welsh, we’ll be sure to keep going,” said the 18-year-old. “I’m really proud of the girls for what they did today.

“We left everything out on the field, and I can’t doubt anyone’s intent. We are a really young side, so there’s a few things we need to freshen up on, but I’m really proud of our efforts.”

Both sides matched each other’s intensity in the tackle during the opening exchanges, but Ireland were able to withstand Wales’ early pressure as the game remained scoreless after 20 minutes.

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Barrett and O’Connor gave Ireland a 10-0 lead midway through the first half, but Wales regrouped well, halving the deficit on the half-hour mark when Chiara Pearce, fresh off the bench, offloaded to the charging Picton-Powell to dot down.

Clarke finished a cross-field Irish move seven minutes into the second 40 minutes, but Wales refused to give up the ghost, hitting back five minutes later as Singleton crashed over in the corner following good work to get the ball out wide on the right to reduce the gap back to five points.

Metcalfe explained it was passages of play such as the one Singleton scored from that Wales can take as one of the positive from the clash.

“I think the way we move the ball [was pleasing],” she continued. “Our intent too and the way we were running on the ball, we’re working really hard, but it’s just about the little bits to finish things off now. We can definitely do it.”

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Amidst the driving rain, Adams-Verling, named Player of the Match, re-established Ireland’s two-score buffer on 58 minutes before O’Sullivan-Sexton’s late effort rounded off the scoring.

Wales will be back in action on 11 July when they take on Scotland in the second match of the competition.

Discover the future of international rugby at the 2025 Women’s Summer Series – where rising stars shine. Follow the action live at sixnationsrugby.com/u6n and on Instagram @u20sixnations.