Sean Lynn wants Wales to leave everything on the pitch against Fiji

Wales boss Sean Lynn has asked his players to leave the pitch against Fiji “crawling” as the curtain comes down on their disappointing World Cup campaign.

Both sides are playing for pride alone in Exeter after losing their opening two Pool B games, with Canada and Scotland having progressed to the quarter-finals.

Battle

But Lynn wants Wales to finish with a flourish and leave everything out on the Sandy Park pitch.

“It looks like both teams are going to throw the kitchen sink at each other,” said Lynn.

“It’s going to be a brilliant battle and I’m hoping we come out on top, but I’ve asked the girls to come off (the pitch) crawling.

“I thought they (Fiji) put in a really strong performance against Scotland. They’re very exciting when they’ve got the ball in hand.

“It’s just making sure that when we’ve got the ball, we’re looking after it, going through the phases and testing them in defence as well.”

Desperate time

Wales reached the knockout stages of the last three World Cups, but it has been a desperate time for the national team in recent times.

Despite handing out its first professional contracts to female players in 2022, wins have been hard to come by and a Six Nations whitewash has now been followed by an early World Cup exit.

Co-captain Alex Callender, fit again to retake her place in the back row, said: “The tournament hasn’t gone to plan, results haven’t gone our way.

“But this is a game we want to win, showcase the team we are, and how hard we’ve worked over the last couple of months.

“This weekend is about forwards working hard set-piece wise, and the backs gelling together and complimenting each other to get over the whitewash.”

Fiji are 14th in the world rankings, three places below Wales, and are coached by Ioan Cunningham.

The 42-year-old was in charge of the Wales women’s team between 2021 and 2024 and left his role last November after the Welsh Rugby Union apologised for their handling of contract negotiations with the playing squad.

Cunningham said: “We have been forced into some changes, but it’s a strong team that we’ve put out.

“We’ve got some strong combinations together and we’ve rewarded some players that have trained really well.

“If we can get our foundations right and our fundamentals in the game it will give us a really good opportunity to challenge Wales.”