The Ospreys winger will be hoping he can celebrate his birthday with further five pointers this afternoon at Stadio Flaminio after a brace against Scotland inched him closer to the Wallaby’s record.
With his British and Irish tries added to his Welsh efforts, Williams has now claimed 55 Test tries and there’s no one better to exploit any frailties in a leaky defence than Williams. With Italy still licking their wounds from an embarrassing defeat against England, this afternoon’s RBS 6 Nations encounter against Warren Gatland’s men doesn’t bode well for the Azzurri.
Williams has raced over for nine tries in eight internationals and has scored against Italy in every game since 2006.
“I would like to think I still have a few tries in me,” Williams said. “I am only nine short of David Campese and I could probably do that in 12 months!
“I try not to dwell on those sort of records too much, and we will have to see what happens for the rest of the season, but I am as hungry as ever.
“I like scoring tries and I am still enjoying my rugby at international level. I am still getting the buzz and feeling just as sharp on the field.
“There is no better feeling than when you are scoring tries. That is what I am here to do and hopefully I can continue to do that for the rest of the season.”
Despite an opening round defeat to England, Williams hasn’t given up hope of winning the championship.
He revealed: “I still think Wales can win the Six Nations, there is so much to come from this squad. More importantly we have started to win again, and while I know it is only one game, it is a start.
“It was not the prettiest performance against Scotland, but we did what we had to do. We have played some real eye-catching rugby in the past and lost.
“We were determined to go out against Scotland and start well, and that is what we did. The game plan went perfectly in the opening quarter.
“But we know Italy are a very different proposition at home. Having lost in Rome in the past, I know what it feels like.”
Teams
Italy: L McLean (Treviso); A Masi (Racing Metro), G Canale (Clermont Auvergne), A Sgarbi (Treviso), M Bergamasco (Racing Metro); K Burton (Treviso), F Semenzato (Treviso); S Perugini (Aironi), L Ghiraldini (Treviso), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester), S Dellape (Racing Metro), Q Geldenhuys (Aironi), A Zanni (Treviso), R Barbieri (Treviso), S Parisse (Stade Francais, capt).
Replacements: C Festuccia (Racing Metro), A Lo Cicero (Racing Metro), V Bernabo (Treviso), M Vosawai (Treviso), P Canavosio (Aironi), L Orquera (Brive), T Benvenuti (Treviso).
Wales: L Byrne (Ospreys); M Stoddart (Scarlets), J Hook (Ospreys), J Roberts (Cardiff Blues), S Williams (Ospreys); S Jones (Scarlets), M Phillips (Ospreys); P James (Ospreys), M Rees (Scarlets, capt), C Mitchell (Ospreys), B Davies (Cardiff Blues), A-W Jones (Ospreys), D Lydiate (Newport Gwent Dragons), S Warburton (Cardiff Blues), R Jones (Ospreys).
Replacements: R Hibbard (Ospreys), J Yapp (Cardiff Blues), J Thomas (Ospreys), J Turnbull (Scarlets), T Knoyle (Scarlets), R Priestland (Scarlets), L Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues).
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