Llewellyn eyes double against England
Gareth Llewellyn hopes to achieve a notable career double against England next Saturday – even if it has been 12 years in the making.
The second-row veteran, 36 next month, is unique among Wales’ RBS 6 Nations Championship squad in that he has experienced the feeling of beating England in Cardiff.
Llewellyn was three weeks short of his 24th birthday when England were last toppled on Welsh soil.
Ieuan Evans’ break-out try, scored after his opposite number Rory Underwood famously went awol in defence, underpinned a 10-9 Welsh success and stunned a star-studded England team containing such household names as Will Carling, Jeremy Guscott, Rob Andrew, Jason Leonard and Peter Winterbottom.
“I remember Ieuan’s try, obviously, and I remember just being under the cosh for the whole of the second half, defending for 40 minutes,” said Llewellyn, who won his 13th cap that February afternoon.
Twelve years on, almost to the day, he is set for a 93rd Test match appearance, firmly established as Wales’ most-capped player.
“I remember Brian Moore trying to get the ball on the touchline to take a throw-in to a line-out, and Nigel Meek (Wales hooker) harassing him, then the referee grabbed the ball and blew the final whistle. Everyone went mad.
“It was brilliant, and at that time they never used to stop the crowds running on the pitch. We had a pitch invasion, and it all went a bit crazy.
“I have probably never started a game against England as a favourite – I’ve had one win from 10 or 11 games, whatever it is – and you would probably want a better return than that,” he added.
“We went through some fairly flat patches in the mid-1990s, but the last five years have been excellent. We’ve really started to improve as a team, and we know where we are going and what we are trying to do when we are on the field.”
Llewellyn’s remarkable durability is testament to his attitude and fitness, but also another simple factor – enjoyment.
“This is the best group of players I’ve been involved with, by far, probably the most talented and organised group,” said Llewellyn, who is 14 years older than one of his current Welsh squad second-row colleagues, Newport Gwent Dragons lock Luke Charteris.
“I love playing rugby and I enjoy the friendship of the players. At the start of my career, I never dreamt I would be still be playing at 35, but as sport has become more and more professional, you see people in their mid-30s achieving things like gold medals.
“It would be nice to beat them (England), but you can’t really look at it like that, added the Narbonne forward.
“It’s more about the progression of this group of players that has been together for the last three or four years, and whether we’ve come far enough now so we are actually good enough to do the job.”
Wales are serious dark horses for Six Nations success this season after taking southern hemisphere giants New Zealand and South Africa to the wire last November, playing an exciting brand of rugby demanded by new coach Mike Ruddock.
In many ways though, the pressure is now on them to take a major scalp following those narrow autumn defeats and frustrating reversals against England in last year’s Six Nations clash at Twickenham, and a thrilling World Cup quarter-final four months previously.
“We’ve come a long way, and even without England’s current injury list, we would be confident going into the game next Saturday,” said Llewellyn.
“Having played England in last year’s Six Nations and the 2003 World Cup, and outscored them on tries but lost both games, we are fairly confident in our ability to score against them.
“Their injuries only increase the expectation on us, but after the last two games against them, I think we can cope with that now.
“You get so many people coming up and saying ‘just beat England and the rest of it doesn’t matter,’ but I think the players always have a more balanced view about it than everybody else.
“As players, we are far more realistic, and understand that if we get off to a great start then that would be fantastic for us, but every game is as important as the next one.
“I think England are still going to come down as favourites. They came to Cardiff before the World Cup with a second-string team and beat us comfortably,” he added.
“Yes, they’ve got injuries, but they are the world champions at the end of the day, and they’ve got huge strength in depth.”
Ruddock plans to announce his starting line-up for the Millennium Stadium clash tomorrow evening, and former captain Martyn Williams could yet secure a place.
Injured Newcastle flanker Colin Charvis is already out of the England game, while Williams – a potential replacement in the number seven jersey – has been struggling with a disc problem in his neck, suggesting that Neath-Swansea Ospreys openside Richie Pugh could make a Test debut.
“We are pretty optimistic about Martyn,” said Wales team physiotherapist Mark Davies. “It has been a bit frustrating for him, but he is on the mend.”
Centre Sonny Parker is Wales’ other main injury concern. Parker has a trapped nerve in his neck, and Davies admitted: “Sonny’s injury is still an issue.”
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