WALES Women head coach Rowland Phillips believes his squad has all the ingredients to mount a serious assault on the World Cup next month.

Last week the former dual-code international whittled his 50-strong training squad down to 28 ahead of the tournament in Ireland.

Wales face a daunting opener against New Zealand in Dublin on August 9 before locking horns with third seeds Canada and Hong Kong.

Phillips admitted he had a hard time finalising his squad after his side finished fifth in the Six Nations but believes they have the right balance to prosper across the Irish Sea.

He said: "It's been a tough process to select this squad, we started off with 50 players after the Six Nations and we learnt a lot from that tournament.

"There have been challenges to select the squad because there have been three separate groups playing at different times.

"It's been a really intense process to get to where we are and it took a long time to finalise the selection.

"But the mix we have of experienced girls who have been to World Cups before and the young kids is a nice blend to have for this tournament. We are confident we have got it right."

Not many will be tipping Wales to prosper in a daunting Pool A but Phillips is determined to ensure his charges think positively after warm-up games against Japan, Spain and England.

He said: "Our first game up is New Zealand and when you play them, a lot of people just think about how much you will lose by.

"When I played against New Zealand we were pretty much beaten before we got started but this time around we need to go out and show belief.

"Against England we found out that we can really step it up when needed and we can challenge anyone on our day.

"This squad is totally different to the one we had in the Six Nations, we just need to be more clinical when we get the chances."

The Wales squad, which is captained by hooker Carys Phillips, features seven Dragons – forwards Cerys Hale, Rebecca Rowe and Megan York and backs Elinor Snowsill, Rebecca De Filippo, Sian Moore and Gemma Rowland.

Wales group fixtures: New Zealand - Wednesday, August 9 (2.45pm, Dublin); Canada - Sunday, August 13 (5pm, Dublin); Hong Kong - Thursday, August 17 (5.15pm, Dublin)