LIAM HAPPY TO FIT IN WHERE NEEDED

LIAM Williams admits he is getting goosebumps just thinking about the prospect of leading out Wales at the Principality Stadium this afternoon.

Williams joins the 50-cap club this weekend, six years after his Test debut against the Barbarians in Cardiff.

“He is definitely a crowd favourite,” said Wales head coach Gatland when asked about Williams’s attributes ahead of the clash with Tonga.

“He has been great in the squad and has got better season after season.”

In his own words, Williams is “just a scaffolder living the dream”.

And the latest chapter of that fairytale will play out in front of friends and family and an expected 50,000-plus crowd in Cardiff.

“It is going to be a great occasion for me and my loved ones. There are loads coming down, I think there will be about 16 of them,” said Williams, speaking at Wales’s base at the Vale Resort this week.

“It was always my boyhood dream to play for Wales. To get to 50 caps just gives me goosebumps now just talking about it.

“Hopefully, there are many more to come.

“I didn’t really think it would be possible to get here.

“I got my first cap in 2012 but I did not play many games after that.

“I was still in the squad though and in with a shout. To now win my 50th cap is one of my greatest achievements and if I do get to lead out the team it would be a huge honour for me.”

Williams starts against Tonga on the wing, where he has played the majority of his rugby for English champions Saracens since his move from the Scarlets in 2017.

A betting man would back Williams for one of the wing spots for next year’s World Cup in Japan, part of a tried and tested back three alongside George North and Leigh Halfpenny.

As for the player himself, he remains philosophical about the whole full-back or wing debate.

“I will play anywhere in the back three,” he said, when the question inevitably came his way.

“I would prefer to play 15, but Gats has picked Jonah (Holmes) there this weekend and we will both go out there and give it our best shot.

“There is a lot of depth in the back three now. As a squad we are in a good place and that is only going to work well for us leading into the World Cup.”