Martyn Williams is preparing for his 13th championship campaign. The Wales openside has been around the international scene for so long that when he made his debut, the Five Nations had yet to become Six. That was back in 1998 and the venue, as it will be on Saturday, was Twickenham.
It is not a match Williams cares to recall, airbrushing the 60-26 defeat from his autobiography, but 12 years on the landscape has changed, and not just because Italy are now part of the championship. England were then the dominant team in Europe, on their way to winning the 2003 World Cup. Wales, as they had seemed to do ever since the glory days of the 1970s, dined off the occasional, unexpected major victory.
Williams has played more championship matches than any other player involved in this year's tournament, having broken Gareth Edwards's Welsh record last season to sit on 48, eight behind the overall record holder, Ireland's Mike Gibson. The England lock Simon Shaw made his Five Nations debut a year earlier than Williams but he has sat out a number of tournaments in the intervening years.
Williams has played 95 Tests, four of them for the Lions. If he plays in all of Wales's Six Nations matches this year, he will reach a century. "If someone had said at the start of my career that I would win 40 caps I would never have believed them," said the 34-year old. "I won my 50th cap against England in Cardiff in 2005, the first match of what was to be a grand slam campaign, and leading the side on to the Millennium Stadium pitch that day stands as the proudest moment in my career."
That match was the first time Williams ended up on the winning side against England but Wales will go into Saturday's Six Nations opener looking for a fourth consecutive championship win over the men in white for the first time in 31 years. Wales have not been to Twickenham without being billed as the underdogs since the 1980s.
"I am not sure that we deserve to be called the favourites," said Williams. "I think both sides will be under some pressure because neither of us performed as we wanted in the autumn internationals. It will be a defining Six Nations for both teams.
"People are saying that the match will offer a contrast in styles, but that does England a disservice. They were missing a number of players in November and many are now back. They have some classy backs who present a danger from all over the pitch while we also have some players who were absent in the autumn, such as Adam Jones and Lee Byrne, back in the squad.
"We have done well in Anglo-Welsh matches this month, but Wales taking on England at Twickenham is something else. We know we can win there after coming from behind two years ago [to win 26-19], but it is all about what happens on the day with the margins so small at the top end of the game."
Williams retired from international rugby after the 2007 World Cup but within a couple of months he had been persuaded to change his mind by Warren Gatland, who took over as Wales's head coach at the end of that year. Gatland wants Williams to carry on to next year's World Cup, given a lack of alternatives in the openside position.
"I will be judged on how I am performing," said Williams. "As you get older, you find yourself looking over your shoulder a bit. There seem to be more young players coming through every year but experience teaches you not to get bogged down by that. Selection is, to a large degree, out of your hands. You can be on fire but if you are not the type of player the coaching staff want there is not much you can do about it."
Williams has been granted a testimonial by the Cardiff Blues after 11 years with the region and its professional precursor, the Cardiff club. A dinner will be held in his honour at Twickenham tonight, with the two men who will be in charge on Saturday, Gatland and Martin Johnson (the England team manager who was Williams's captain on the 2001 Lions tour to Australia), among those attending.
"The start of the Six Nations is always a special time of the season," said Williams. "I have been fortunate to have been involved in a few campaigns and to play so many times in what is the greatest competition in the world is something I am really proud of. When you start off, you are happy just to get one cap and it takes some believing to think I am still going after all these years."
