Wales
WALES face a huge battle to get out of their pool but head coach Rowland Phillips is desperate to put a difficult Six Nations behind them and show they can compete against the best in the world.
Given their low seeding of 10th, Wales, who won only one of their Six Nations game, face heavyweights New Zealand, 2014 finalists Canada and Hong Kong in the pool.
Phillips’ side played three warm-up matches against Japan, Spain and England ahead of the tournament and he was happy with what he saw.
“There’s a tremendous amount of excitement within the squad for...