Last-eight spot should be bare minimum, says Owens

FORMER Wales and British Lions star Ken Owens insists Wales Women's World Cup campaign has not been a success despite the Welsh Rugby Union saying otherwise.

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But he also believes head coach Sean Lynn needs to be given time to put his stamp on the squad.

Saturday's defeat against Fiji in Exeter made it three successive pool losses for Wales and they exited the tournament before the knockout stages.

They have clearly regressed since reaching the quarterfinal at the last World Cup. This is on top of finishing the recent Six Nations with a Wooden Spoon.

Lynn came in just before the Six Nations but aside from a pre-World Cup win in Australia, it has been a series of defeats.

To rub salt into the wounds, Lynn’s predecessor Ioan Cunningham masterminded the Fiji win as their head coach.

But despite the series of poor results, the WRU’s head of women’s rugby Belinda Moore insists it has not been a failure.

"You definitely can’t say they've failed," Moore told BBC Radio Wales.