Georgia Evans insists Wales Women are moving in the right direction, as they prepare to take on England at Twickenham Stoop on Saturday.
The Cardiff Blues lock is joined by two of her regional team-mates in Chris Horsman’s starting line-up, while Hannah Bluck makes a return to the matchday squad for the first time during this Championship.
Evans says Wales relish the challenge of coming up against the best sides in world rugby, and is encouraged by the family atmosphere in camp.
The second row said: “There’s something special about us and we are building towards a bright future.
“There’s a great bunch of girls here and we are all like a family.
“When you turn up for training it’s like going home. We all push ourselves and we know there’s competition in the squad.
“You don’t know who is playing week in week out so we are all pushing ourselves to be better.
“Siwan Lillicrap is a fantastic leader and she always says look yourself in the eye after the game and if you know you’ve put your body on the line then you can’t ask anymore.
“If we do want to be the best we have to be able to compete against the best.
“We all look forward to the England game, it’s the one we all want to play in.
“We hope to build on our performance in France. If we can build on that and take the game to England while maintaining our solid defence then we have a chance.
“We need to finish off the opportunities we create and then we can shock people. This is what we train for.
“England are the favourites but we enjoy being the underdogs. I know the scoreline wasn’t great against France but it didn’t reflect how well we played and I genuinely don’t think we are that far away.”
Evans’ cousin is former Cardiff Blues, Pontypridd and Wales outside half, Ceri Sweeney.
She says the former playmaker is an inspiration but is determined to continue to make her own name on the international stage.
“I grew up knowing everything I needed to know about rugby because I used to follow my cousin Ceri Sweeney while my brother also plays for Pontypridd. We travel around a lot and it was great to see Ceri play for Wales even though I didn’t inherit his boot!
“My auntie and uncle are know following me after missing watching him play since his retirement. He’s a great role model.
“It was great winning my first cap last autumn and hopefully I can win many more.”
Wales finish off their Women's Six Nations campaign against Scotland next weekend at the Cardiff Arms Park, with tickets available to purchase NOW!