Q&A: Welsh captain Rachel Taylor

This is a young Welsh team - how much did you take out of your World Cup experience and how will that help you this year?We had a bit of a tricky time last year in the 6 Nations but obviously our key focus was the World Cup. In Paris I believe our team performances were good and we’ve kept that core group of players as well as adding some new faces. In Paris we were the youngest squad and I think the lightest too! Since then, some of the players have gone away with the sevens teams as well so they’ve had a World Cup and a sevens summer compressed in a short space of time. That experience-has been really beneficial for us though.

World Cup qualification will be on your minds this year - how does that affect how you go into the tournament.It gives us something to focus on bit this year is a tough one when you look at our three away games - all challenging matches. France away on a Friday night for example.  Personally I think we’re lucky in a way to have England first up at home as there will be no shortage of intensity for a first game. The last time we played them at home we were strong for 40 minutes and then couldn't back it up - this time we are stronger and fitter so we have to try and give it all for 80 minutes.

What are the Welsh targets this season then?We’re going to have to target our two home games, especially Ireland and we’ve come quite close to them in the last couple of years. We used to have really competitive matches where maybe we’d win one they’d win one, whereas the last three years they’ve really pipped us to the post in that fixture. The key thing for us it just to turn that closely run game into a win.

How do you feel the tournament is shaping up this year, post World Cup and with lots of sevens clashes?It’s sort of a transitional period for all teams - I know the Irish sevens girls are coming in and out and England  are also restructuring. I think it adds to the tournament because there’s a little bit of uncertainty. We had a game against Ireland a few weeks ago and it was good to see some new faces in the Irish team.  It was a good game and a chance to try things out but always after a World Cup, teams will be going through that rebuilding time with very little time to prepare for the 6 Nations

Who are the Welsh players to watch this season?We have an exciting squad. Amy Evans coming in as prop is one  - she has a previous history of weightlifting, so she’s given us a different dynamic and she's very passionate and keen to learn. Rebecca Rowe is fitting in really well with Jenny Hawkins in the second row, a great combination in the short time they’ve had. Then there's Melissa Clay and Keira Bevans who have played sevens and are really good players.

How developed is the Welsh youth structure now?Our U18s setup has been fantastic. I’ve been lucky enough to see some of their games and the quality is there. The individuals are there. We need to make sure there’s a transition from those sides coming into the senior setup. That's the age group we don't want to lose. We need to make sure we look after them and obviously when we get that conveyor belt of players coming through there’s no drop off That’s the key for us, we’re a  small nation, we don't have many players, we need to pool what we can - whether they want to play 7s or 15s.

In previous years we’ve had too many years of drop off, a core of players would retire and then you’d have to wait another three or four years for the next team to develop - we’re cutting that back all the time. Anything longer than a few years is too damaging for an international team. So when those U18s start coming through, it should be really promising for us.