Talented Thomas steering youthful Welsh charge

We caught up with talented Wales fly-half Naomi Thomas ahead of this weekends clash against England at Twickenham. Thomas returned to the Welsh set-up this year having taken a year out last season and her return has already proved to be a major boost as she played a key role in last weekends win over Scotland.

The 57 times capped Thomas, has brought back with her to the set-up a vast amount of experience to a relatively young Welsh team, and in the pivotal role of number 10 will be a key player this weekend.

Thomas explains her sabbatical from the national side last season.

Having been in the Welsh set up for 10 years where rugby basically took up so much of my time I decided that after the World Cup it was time that I spent more time with my family. I wasnt entirely sure if I was going to retire fully or not and my father was a little disappointed that I was even thinking of retiring because he felt I had more to give. Dad however passed away in the January of the year that I had taken out and after a lot of thought I decided to make myself available again for selection.

In her absence, Wales had a tough 6 Nations, with a switch of coaching staff in the middle of the tournament, though they rallied well to finish in fourth place and pick up some good wins.

This season the Welsh side is featuring a number of new faces and Thomas is leading a backiline shorn of the likes of Ceri Redman and Elen Evans who are injured and steering players who are new to this level.

The most obvious change since I was last playing for Wales is that the average age of the squad has dropped but we now have a lot of young new faces with a lot of talent."

Wales have one win under their belt already, a 20-0 win over Scotland, while their postponed game against Ireland will be played on March 3rd.

Against Scotland it was good to get a win and increase our confidence however we are under no illusion that the game on the weekend will be our toughest game of the 6 Nations, playing England at Twickenham and that we are clear under dogs, Thomas said.

But ultimately it is up to us on whether we give England a tough game or not. A lot of us have played against the English or with them in the Premiership therefore even though you respect them for being second in the world they are still human.

What is vital is that we are switched on from the start both in defence and attack and maintain it for the full 80 minutes. Against a team like England if you switch off for five minutes you could be 2 tries behind. Our biggest challenge will be to maintain this focus.

Its not a first game at Twickenham for Thomas who played for UWIC at Twickenham in the BUSA final against Loughborough in 2003 but the prospect of playing at the Millennium Stadium in a few weeks time is just as exciting.

Itll be an honour to play at the home of Welsh rugby and in a magnificent stadium; were all looking forward to it, she added.

Pictures thanks to Rugby Matters