DRAGONS fly-half Elinor Snowsill says Wales Women have to go up another level if they are to transfer their winning friendly form in the ‘different beast’ of the Six Nations, writes Chris Kirwan.

Rowland Phillips’ side are dark horses for the tournament after recent successes against Scotland, Spain, the UK Armed Forces and Ireland.

They open up against Italy in Ancona on Saturday with Snowsill aiming to pull the strings and help make it five on the spin.

The 27-year-old said: “Those results can give us a certain amount of pressure, in particular the Ireland one, because that’s the first time since I’ve been involved that we have come back to win a game that we have been two tries down in, but we can take a lot of confidence from that.

“It shows that we have grown as a group but at the same time they are friendlies and Six Nations games are a different beast with that added mental challenge of all the extra nerves that come with it, so we have to take it that next step up.”

Wales lost 16-12 when the teams met at Aberavon last year but with Phillips now at the helm, Snowsill believes they are ready to improve on last year’s fourth-place finish.

“We are definitely a lot more prepared than we’ve ever been. Whether it’s the content of training, the meetings or chats beforehand,” said the Dragons and Bristol playmaker.

“We’ve had patches of belief in the past when we have had big wins against England and France but it’s that consistency of believing you can perform like that every game.

“I am hoping that’s what we will start to achieve over the next few months.”

Wales name their XV today (THURS) with eight Dragons – Snowsill, props Cerys Hale and Meg York, lock Rebecca Rowe, centres Gemma Rowland and Rebecca de Filippo, scrum-half Sian Moore and winger Charlie Murray – in the 32-strong squad for the tournament.