Former captain Siwan Lillicrap endured some of Wales women’s most turbulent times during her rugby playing career.
Amid a conveyor belt of coaches and poor results, there were calls for player pathways to be reinstalled.
Those calls reached fever pitch in the 2021 Women’s Six Nations when Lillicrap sobbed uncontrollably in a post-match interview after a heavy home defeat by Ireland.
Four years on, she heads up the Welsh Rugby Union’s (WRU) women’s performance pathway, which includes under-18s and under-20s sides.
Players have already started to come through the system, with Wales head coach Sean Lynn including age-grade players in his extended Rugby World Cup training squad.
Lillicrap told BBC Sport Wales it was a “super proud” moment.
