Williams fears Irish will stop his gallop

RHYS WILLIAMS believes Wales are in for a tough test in their Six Nations Championship clash with Ireland at Lansdowne Road on Sunday.

The Cardiff Blues winger scored two of Wales’ three tries in the opening 23-10 championship win clash against Scotland last weekend.

But despite the Irish going down 35-17 in France, Williams believes the men in green will attempt to close down the free-running Welsh.

“We definitely won’t get the freedom we got against Scotland when we go to Lansdowne Road,” said Williams, who turns 24 on Monday.

“It’s going to be a hell of a task to go there and come back with a win.

“We realise we have to step up our performance levels again because so many times we have played well and then followed it with a poor display.

“We have to be mature enough as a team to put the Scotland performance behind us because it is in the past.”

Williams enjoyed his return to the Wales side after being out of favour for most of the World Cup, during which he missed the famous performances against New Zealand and England.

But an injury to Llanelli Scarlets wing Mark Jones saw 33-cap Williams recalled against Scotland.

“I had a point to prove against Scotland,” he said.

“I was chomping at the bit to get another chance, and while I was nervous, I tried to turn that into positive energy.”

Williams returns to the scene of his international debut on Sunday. He made an instant impact at Lansdowne Road in 2000 when Wales emerged as victors over Ireland.

As a 20-year-old that day he burst on to the scene with a display of free-flowing rugby.

“I have fond memories of the first game but the memories have not been as good since then.

“Four years ago I remember waking up on the morning of my debut and I was scared stiff. My dad saw me in the hotel foyer and he said I was white.

“I was standing there singing the national anthem and my next memory was in the changing room afterwards and Scott Gibbs was coming up to me and that was awesome.

“He swapped his shirt with Rob Henderson and gave me that shirt so I could keep my own on my first cap, which I thought was a nice gesture.

“My Welsh shirt is framed in my new house while my Irish shirt is in storage under my bed.”