The 25-year-old inside-centre starts for Wales against
New Zealand but
cancer and head injuries mean it’s been an arduous road
![Johnny Williams: ‘There have been sacrifices. It’s almost like a first cap’](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/3b2fb6683bff8c7b3bf70e97cc6a449088021eba/117_126_4866_2919/master/4866.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=b19b4e901717d0fe6d7829739ebb02a7)
Johnny Williams has waited a long time for this. The 25-year-old will start at inside-centre as Wales host New Zealand at the Principality Stadium on Saturday and he has taken an arduous road to get here. “There have been a lot of sacrifices,” he says. “It almost feels like a first cap.”
In fact, it will be his fourth for Wales in a game when Alun Wyn Jones will set a new record for most Test appearances for a single country with 149 – not including his 12 for the
British and
Irish Lions – and Gareth Anscombe returns to Test rugby after more than two years. But Williams’s accomplishment is no less impressive.