Liam Williams gets 'a tuning' from young Wales jokers as new kid wows in training

Wales star Liam Williams has been teased by two of Warren Gatland's newest call-ups that his days in the squad are numbered.

The former Scarlets and Cardiff man, who now plies his trade in Japan with Kubota Spears, has been a mainstay in the Welsh squad for over a decade after making his debut back in 2012. But at 33, the British and Irish Lions tourist now faces competition for a place in the side with Cam Winnett making the 15 jersey his own during the Six Nations in Williams' absence.

Having been recalled by Gatland for Wales' summer fixtures against South Africa and Australia, Williams impressed as he lined up on the wing against the Springboks. But while he showed that class is permanent, he was cheekily reminded that he is steadily approaching the twilight of his Wales career by two young guns looking to make an impression of their own Down Under.

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Appearing on The Rugby Pod ahead of Wales' first clash with the Wallabies on Saturday, the back told his former teammate Dan Biggar that he'd taken "a bit of a tuning" from new call-ups Josh Hathaway and Jacob Beetham as they followed tradition in introducing themselves to the squad.

Quizzed on what team morale was like heading into the first Test, Williams said: "It's good. As you know, the new boys coming into camp have 30 seconds to do their introductions...". Interrupting, Biggar explained to listeners: "When you're new to camp, you are called up by the entertainments committee and you sort of have to big yourself up or basically slag the coaches or yourself or anybody else off."

Asked if there had been any standout introductions this time around, Williams continued: "Yeah, to be fair, I took a bit of a tuning from Josh Hathaway and Jacob Beetham. They were both hammering me and basically trying to tell me that this was going to be my last spot here in camp. Yeah, I took a bit of a tuning on that one - but I'm all for that."

The 90-cap international went on to praise Hathaway, who has had a breakout season for Gloucester and is now set to win his first cap for Wales having also played U20s rugby for England. Hailing him as a star of the future, Williams even admitted that the 20-year-old had made him and some of his teammates "look stupid" in training.

"I think he's going to be a hell of a player, if I'm being perfectly honest," he said. "A couple of times when we've trained back at the Vale he's been making line breaks and made a couple of us look stupid at times. He scored a nice try in the session this afternoon too.

"But he's young and he's raw so he needs people like myself to just help him along and the coaches are doing that too. He's doing his work off the field as well, looking at the laptop because it's obviously new to him, it's completely new with the playbook and stuff. But he's been really good and I think he's going to be a really good athlete and a good player for Wales."