‘Don’t write us off’: Siwan Lillicrap believes Wales can still progress at Rugby World Cup

New Zealand put 10 tries past Wales in Auckland, in another show of the strength from the host nation

Siwan Lillicrap has voiced her belief in Wales despite a tough defeat to New Zealand (Steven Paston/PA) (PA Archive)

Siwan Lillicrap warned against dismissing Wales’ World Cup chances despite a 56-12 defeat by hosts New Zealand.

The Black Ferns put 10 tries past Wales in Auckland, in another show of the strength from the host nation.

Wales skipper Lillicrap insisted her side can still battle for a place in the knockout stages, however, with a decisive match against Australia still to come.

Beat Australia and Wales will guarantee themselves a quarter-final berth.

“Don’t write us off, we are fighting for those quarter-final spaces. It’s a huge game next week [against Australia], and we will recover quickly and we will move forward to that game quickly,” said Lillicrap.

“We are seeing glimpses of what this side is capable of, we haven’t seen a rounded performance yet. We are new in the journey, we are new to professional rugby, we have been working hard and I think you can see that.”

Lillicrap insisted Wales put in a performance boasting strength up front but lacking in killer instinct.

“Our set-piece was really dominant today. Our pack did exceptionally well in that area,” said the Wales captain.

“Line-outs, driving mauls, scrums there was a lot of penalties there. We didn’t capitalise on the opportunities in that area and didn’t front up physically enough in that area. Credit to the Black Ferns; they put everything at us.

“They scored a couple of quick tries again in that first half, and in the same second half we let them score two tries, which isn’t the way we wanted to start.

“They pounced on our mistakes, they have deadly wingers that can create stuff from nothing. They have deadly players all around the park, with great attacking ability.”