Wales Target Netball World Cup Spot in Glasgow Qualifiers

The Welsh Feathers face Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland this weekend with two places at Australia 2027 on the line.

Wales' netball team heads back to Glasgow this weekend for World Cup qualifying, where they will face Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Two places at the 2027 tournament in Australia are at stake, with the World Cup set to run in Sydney from 25 August to 5 September 2027.

The qualifiers come less than two months after a difficult Commonwealth Games campaign in which Wales won just one of six matches and finished 10th. The team also slipped from seventh to ninth in the world rankings. Outgoing head coach Emily Handyside described the Commonwealths result as one that stung.

Interim head coach Reinga Bloxham, who also coaches Welsh club side Dragons, said she has full confidence in the squad's ability to win all three matches. She has added one new face in goal defence Millie Carter, a 24-year-old from Manchester Thunder's NXT Gen squad who earned her first senior cap last November against Zimbabwe.

Goal shooter Georgia Rowe, who plays for Dragons in the Netball Super League, said the team was not at its best physically or mentally at the Games. Captain Bethan Partridge, a veteran of three Commonwealth Games and two World Cups, said the group has had honest reflections since and believes it can win three from three.

Wales enter the qualifiers as the highest-ranked of the four sides, with Scotland closest behind in 10th in the world rankings.