´óÏó´«Ã½

Wales wing star Jasmine Joyce and full-back Kayleigh Powell have committed to playing for Great Britain Sevens for the 2022-23 World Series.

It means they could be absent for the 2023 Six Nations, which starts on the weekend of 25 March, 2023.

World Rugby's sevens series has seven events from December 2022 to May 2023.

"I'm gutted to be leaving the Wales set-up which has gone from strength to strength and I'm sad to leave the girls," said Joyce.

"But sevens certainly plays to my strengths at the moment and to have the chance to push for another Olympic Games is certainly a dream of mine, something I couldn't turn down."

Wales have joined England and Scotland to form regular women's and men's teams for the sevens tournaments, where Olympic Games qualification is the target.

Powell said: "This is a really exciting opportunity for me to play on the world series and potentially the Olympic Games. That's something I've dreamt about since I was a child, so to give it a shot is huge."

Wales women's head coach Ioan Cunningham said he does not yet know if the players will be available for the Six Nations, but fully backs their choices.

"I had a great couple of meetings with Jaz, I fully support her and her dream of playing [at the] Olympics, I think it's fantastic," said Cunningham.

"If she becomes available during the Six Nations, we'll 100% bring her back in.

"And also we're still looking at the 2025 World Cup. It's still part of her plans, our plans moving forward, so we'll speak about that closer to the time."

Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) performance director Nigel Walker said: "We are sorry to see these players leave our full-time 15s programme as they were an integral part of our Rugby World Cup squad, but we wish them and the rest of the players and coaches involved in both the men's and women's Great Britain Sevens squads the very best in their aim to reach the Olympic Games."

The women's World Rugby Sevens Series begins in Dubai on 2-3 December.

On 1 April, 2023, Wales face Scotland in the Six Nations while GB Sevens will be in Hong Kong.

Joyce has been a standout player for Great Britain, and starred in the final when they won the 2021 Canada Sevens.

Her talent also shone through at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, held in 2021 as the team finished fourth.

Joyce turned fully professional with Wales' 15-a-side team at the start of 2022, and helped Wales to a quarter-final finish at the recent World Cup.

Recently appointed GB Sevens coach Nick Wakley said: "We are very excited to have Jaz and KP (Powell) on board. We all know how Jaz can light up a sevens pitch anywhere in the world and she has already settled into our environment.

"I was lucky enough to work with Kayleigh with Wales Under-18 Sevens. She is a very talented player."