Williams backing Lonsdale

SHANE Williams has backed Sean Lonsdale to force his way into Wales’s World Cup plans.

Lonsdale, who was educated in Colwyn Bay and has a Welsh mother, has moved from Exeter Chiefs to the Dragons this summer.

And he has what it takes to be a World Cup bolter, according to Amman Valley hero Williams.

Three of Wales’s second-row spots for France look taken even at this stage, with Adam Beard, Will Rowlands and Alun Wyn Jones fancied to claim them.

But who fills the fourth is much more open, assuming Pivac takes a quartet of locks to the global showpiece next year.

The 6ft 5in Lonsdale, who shared in Exeter’s Gallagher Premiership and Heineken Champions Cup-winning double of 2019-20, is a player to keep an eye on, as is fellow Welshqualified lock George Nott who has made the move to Gwent from London Irish.

Writing in The Rugby Paper, Williams says: “If you assess Wales’s second-row stocks they are looking very light, especially after a few injuries, so I imagine Wayne Pivac will be happy to have them playing in Wales.

“I’ve been impressed with what I’ve seen from Lonsdale at Exeter, and he’s my World Cup bolter.”