Llewellyn channels Sonny Bill Williams as Wales brace for 34-game losing streak against All Blacks

Max Llewellyn has cited two-time World Cup winner Sonny Bill Williams as the player who shaped his game, as Wales prepare to face New Zealand in Cardiff on Saturday carrying a 34-match losing streak against the All Blacks stretching back to 1953.

The Gloucester centre, 27, drew a direct line between Williams’s offloading game and his own development as a midfielder. “Sonny Bill was probably someone I really enjoyed watching,” Llewellyn said. “Growing up, I was a centre, he was a centre. We were similar frames, and I really enjoyed what he did in terms of bringing the offload into rugby and changing the game a bit. That was something I looked at and wanted to emulate.”

Llewellyn was part of the Wales side beaten 52-26 by New Zealand at the same venue 12 months ago, and he is under no illusions about the scale of the task. “They’re probably still one of the biggest names in rugby,” he said. “They’ve gone through a big rebuild, but definitely come out on the other side looking pretty strong again. They’ve still got a lot of talent all around the pitch. They’re really well structured and well organised, and that’s been the thing all the way throughout their history.”

Despite the daunting record, Llewellyn can claim a rare distinction: he was at outside centre when Wales beat New Zealand 8-7 at the 2019 World Under-20 Championship in Argentina, a match interrupted by a 30-minute thunderstorm delay just before half-time. “That’s still a good memory, actually, when I think back on it,” he said.

For Saturday’s Test, Llewellyn is set to shift to inside centre with Eddie James outside him. Wales arrive at the fixture on the back of a 28-21 autumn-opener victory over Japan — their second win in four Nations Championship matches — and currently sit fifth in the northern hemisphere standings.

“We probably haven’t been too consistent in our performances, whether it be the Six Nations or in the summer,” Llewellyn acknowledged. “So it’s just making sure it doesn’t matter who the opponents are, that we need to make sure we’re consistent in that. That’s obviously what we’re building towards.”

Australia will follow as Wales’s final autumn home visitors on 21 November before the Nations Championship finals weekend at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.