Wales’ Rachel Rowe defends compatriot Jasmine Joyce-Butchers after TikTok dance

Wales footballer Rachel Rowe has defended rugby counterpart Jasmine Joyce-Butchers for taking part in a post-match TikTok dance after being hammered by England, but admitted she would not have done it herself.

Joyce-Butchers sparked a backlash on social media after England ran in 11 tries for a 67-12 Six Nations victory in front of a record Principality Stadium crowd of over 21,000 on Saturday.

Some called it embarrassing for women’s sport and questioned the professionalism of the Wales and Great Britain sevens winger.

WRU

“Everybody is uniquely their own person and what the WRU (Welsh Rugby Union) did in that game was spectacular,” said Rowe, the 72-times capped Southampton forward.

“The amount of fans that they got, the highest attendance for a women’s sports event in Wales.

“I think it’s really easy to target her and say what she did was unprofessional. Would I have done it? No.

“But everyone is themselves and there is nothing wrong celebrating success – and it was a massive Welsh success for everybody.

“In my eyes people can do what they want if there’s no repercussions from a professional perspective. But you’re never going to please everyone as an athlete.

“If she had her time again would she do it? I’m not sure. But I’m not big on TikTok and I certainly wouldn’t be dancing.”

Injury

Rowe has returned to Wales’ Euros-bound squad for upcoming Nations League games against Denmark and Sweden after missing the February camp through injury.

Wales began building for this summer’s European Championship in Switzerland by losing narrowly 1-0 in Italy before holding Sweden, ranked sixth in the world, to a 1-1 home draw.

In their previous Nations League A campaign two years ago, Wales were relegated after picking up only one point from six games and also suffered a 5-1 home defeat to Denmark.

The Danes revisit Cardiff on Friday before Wales’ return game against Sweden in Gothenburg, four days later.

Rowe said: “A few of us were chatting about that Denmark game and we conceded a couple goals on the bounce.

“We’re way more prepared in how we manage those moments, whereas in that game, we clearly weren’t.

“We’ve had two good performances to build into this game and there is an expectation within the group that we are going to compete.

“We’ve got ourselves in a much better position to be able to compete against League A opposition and the best teams in the world. As a collective, we’re at a completely different head space.”