Bristol Bears Women’s scrum half Keira Bevan expressed her delight at the appointment of Sean Lynn as the new Welsh head coach.
Lynn, who has been the head coach at Gloucester-Hartpury since 2019, will combine his duties at the West Country side alongside the Wales job until the culmination of the English domestic season.
Bevan has featured for the Dragons on 68 occassions and could first link up with her new international head coach on March 22nd against Scotland.
“I don’t think it was a very well kept secret, as his name was batted around for a while but a lot of the girls are really excited about it, myself included.”
During his time at Kingsholm, Lynn masterminded back to back wins in the PWR, lifting the trophy in 2023 and 2024, creating a Gloucester-Hartpury team regarded by most as the best team in the world.
In fact, in the final of last years competition, Lynn faced Bevan at Sandy Park as Bristol Bears were defeated 36-24, following a flurry of second half tries for the Cherry and Whites.
“He’s got a good group of players to work with and the fact that he knows the Gloucester-Hartpury Welsh girls helps with that as well.
“I think his plan is to talk to the other coaches in the league to get a feel for how everyone else is, before he puts his stamp on how he wants us to play,” said Bevan.
It was a challenging year on the pitch for Wales last term, winning just three out of 10 matches, including a 20-18 defeat against Scotland, who they face first in the Six Nations.
The Dragons have not beaten their opponents on the last two occasions, losing once in Edinburgh and once in Cardiff.
Bevan said: “There are only a couple of weeks left of the regular season so Lynn only has a short amount of time to bring his ideas in.
“It’s really important we use the Six Nations to prepare for the rest of the year as we have probably one of the biggest World Cups ever coming up.”
Alongside Lynn, Belinda Moore was appointed as the Welsh Rugby Union’s new Head of Women’s Rugby.
While considering her appointment, Bevan said: “I think it shows how seriously Welsh Rugby are taking the women’s game now, with Moore and Lynn putting us in good stead ahead of a crucial year.”
