By Graham Thomas
If you were to pick two players from the past 20 years who have done more than anyone to personify and showcase Welsh rugby to the wider world, then Shane Williams might be one.
The other would probably be Jasmine Joyce.
Both small in stature, but big on talent, self-belief and the rare ability to excite crowds and light up stadia, wherever and whenever they play.
Joyce has not been seen as regularly as some in a Welsh shirt over the past few seasons, mainly because the Sevens circuit – and her involvement with the Great Britain squad – conflicted with the 15-a-side game.
But this weekend, the 28-year-old will be back on the stage – and maybe in the colours – for which she is most widely known, playing for Great Britain in the Olympic Sevens.
Joyce has already competed at two Olympics, helping Team GB finish fourth in both Rio and Tokyo. She scored seven tries in Tokyo.
Now, she will become the first British rugby player to appear at three Olympic Games. She and Scotland centre Lisa Thomson are the only non-English players selected in a 14-strong squad.
Team GB lost out to Canada and Fiji respectively in the bronze-medal matches in Rio and Tokyo.
They qualified for Paris 2024 in June last year by winning gold at the European Games in Krakow, beating hosts Poland 33-0 in the final.
Joyce – unarguably one of the world’s most exciting female rugby players – returned from duty in Tokyo to find herself unemployed.
It was while she was contemplating how to juggle another job around her rugby, that the WRU decided it was time follow the lead of other nations and ringfence money for full-time contracts for elite women players.
Joyce said: “I think a lot of us kind of stood up for ourselves and stood up about the programme itself and were like, ‘this isn’t good enough’.
“There were a lot of people who’ve been in the system for a long time, who were saying ‘we’re not going to continue doing this anymore, it’s not fair on us’.
“It wasn’t fair on our mental health, and it wasn’t fair on us physically to work 38 hours a week – most people will do more than that – and then train pretty much 38 hours a week as well.”
Progress with Wales after those professional contracts was immediate but has since stalled and Wales are a long way off the levels of England and France in the Six Nations.
That means Joyce’s best chance of gaining a winners’ medal is once again at the Olympic Games.
Not that Joyce – after going so close at her two previous Olympics – is feeling daunted.
The women’s rugby sevens event is held over three days from Sunday, 28, until Tuesday, 30 July at the Stade de France and Joyce says: “We are under the radar – no one expects us to medal.
“Going to the Olympics now as underdogs is kind of exciting. The pressure is off, so we can enjoy and embrace the moment a bit more; the more you enjoy it, the more success comes with that.
“To go to two Olympics and both times finish fourth is pretty heart-sinking. No one remembers fourth place, do they? You may as well have come last… that’s how I feel.
“We were expected to medal at both, so the pressure was on as individuals, coaches, and a team.
“Hopefully, this time will be different.”
