Cameron Winnett has been backed to handle his first taste of Twickenham by the man he succeeded in the Wales jersey.
Liam Williams was the last man to play full-back in a Wales Test match before Winnett’s debut against Scotland.
Williams saw Winnett, 21, rise through the ranks at Cardiff first hand.
And he believes Winnett has the temperament to handle his first away match in the Six Nations, against England on Saturday.
Williams, now in Japan with Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay, only won once in eight visits with Wales to Twickenham, and never in the Six Nations.
“I don’t tend to think too much about the crowd, particularly at Twickenham. They are always going to be booing you,” he said.
“Cam just needs to play his own game and I’m sure he’ll go well.
“He’s a quiet kid who keeps himself to himself [but] he’s good and it was great to see him start on the weekend.
“He played well under the high ball and I’m sure he all those [young] boys will be looking forward to the weekend ahead.”
Winnett has been named by Warren Gatland for Saturday following his international debut in the 27-26 loss to Scotland.
And Williams believes there are grounds for optimism after the rousing second-half fightback, in which youngsters Alex Mann, Rio Dyer and Ioan Lloyd all scored.
“It wasn’t a great first 40 minutes, but they can take some credit out of the second half. They just left themselves too much to do,” he said.
“But some of the stuff they played in the second half was really good. Wales haven’t played like that for a while so hopefully they can take that into next week against the old enemy.”
‘More Wales players looking at Japan’
Williams is unavailable for Wales in the Six Nations owing to his move to Kubota Spears after last year’s World Cup.
And the 32-year-old, who wants to tour Australia with Wales this summer, reckons more Welsh players will be tempted to Japan Rugby League One as the regions struggle with budget cuts.
“I think there might be a couple of other Welshies coming over,” he said.
“I know a couple of boys have been speaking about it. The attraction was just after the 2019 World Cup [in Japan]. We were here for quite a while. I enjoyed Japan, the people and the food.”
