The Cardiff Blues scrum-half has decided to try his hand in rugby’s shorter format in a bid to improve his all-round game ahead of the new Guinness PRO14 season.
But for Williams, this weekend’s action at AT&T Park, normally the home of baseball’s San Francisco Giants, is about more than a warm-up to the upcoming campaign. Wales begin their tournament against Zimbabwe at 22:07 BST tonight with Gareth Williams’ side in a good place.
“We ultimately want to win the World Cup and I do think we can do it,” said Williams. “In sevens it comes down to fine margins and usually you find whoever deals with the kick-offs better wins the game.
“There are a lot of things riding on it, but sevens is a strange game. You often see unfancied teams turning over the more dominant sides due to skill or a decision here or there.
“If everyone stays fit and we are able to bring our best game, then we’ve got a decent chance. I got asked by Gareth if I wanted to come and play sevens this summer and I jumped at the opportunity.
“Representing Wales is always a great honour for me and one I would never turn down. I can’t wait to play in the US.
“They are very enthusiastic about their sport and have been advertising this really well. To play in front of a packed house, in a great stadium, against some of the best sevens players in the world is something we are going to relish.”
In previous years the Rugby World Cup Sevens has been set up in a pool stage format, but the 2018 tournament will be sudden death from the get go.
Williams believes the change will make for a more exciting weekend.
“I’ve never played in a sudden death competition before,” he said.
“In the past if you lost a game you could still make up ground and qualify, but now if you lose one game you’re out. It will make it a really exciting competition especially towards the later stages of it.
“I played against Zimbabwe in sevens when I was 19. They are an athletic team and very fit.
“We will have to play well to beat them, but we have prepared very well and come game day I think we can get the job done.”
Wales Sevens: Luke Treharne, Ethan Davies, Lloyd Williams, Luke Morgan, Owen Jenkins, Tom Williams, Cory Allen, Afon Bagshaw, Adam Thomas, Cai Devine, Jared Rosser, Ben Roach. Travelling Reserve: Will Talbot-Davies.
Full live streaming of the tournament will available on World Rugby platforms, whilst S4C will be showing highlights on Saturday (19:30), Sunday (19:30) and Monday (18:30).
