Llewellyn aims to trouble New Zealand with Sonny Bill-style offloads in Cardiff

Wales centre Max Llewellyn said he hopes to cause New Zealand problems with offloading when he starts at inside centre for Steve Tandy's side in Cardiff in the Nations Championship on Saturday (14:10 GMT). The 27-year-old Gloucester back cited Sonny Bill Williams as a key influence on his game.

Llewellyn grew up watching the All Blacks side that included Dan Carter, Richie McCaw, Ma'a Nonu, Sam Whitelock and Kieran Read, but it was the physical, offloading play of dual-code icon Sonny Bill Williams that most appealed to him. The 6ft 6in centre said: "He was probably someone that I really enjoyed watching when growing up," said the 27-year-old. "I was a centre, he was a centre and he had a similar frame. I really enjoyed what he did in bringing the offload into rugby. "That kind of changed the game a bit and was something that I looked at and wanted to emulate."

Llewellyn has beaten New Zealand once, with Wales Under-20s at the 2019 World Rugby Under-20 Championship in Argentina, a rare result for Welsh players against the All Blacks. Wales have lost 34 successive games in a streak that goes back to 1953, including the one-point defeat in 2004 when Llewellyn's father Gareth was in the second row. Last Saturday's 28-21 win against Japan has not altered expectations ahead of the meeting with New Zealand, but Llewellyn insisted the squad remain positive: "There's always the belief, especially when you come into work and you are in this Welsh jersey, that you can win. "We are always willing to deliver everything we can, and above, to make that happen. "We have been working really hard to make our performances more consistent and better. If we can do that then we will be in a really good spot to be a lot more competitive on Saturday."

Against Japan Llewellyn was paired for the first time with Scarlets' James, 6ft 4in, in what was Steve Tandy's sixth different centre partnership and a departure from recent selections that favoured a ball-player in either Joe Hawkins or Ben Thomas. On the new midfield pairing Llewellyn said: "I really enjoyed it. It was the first that I have played with Eddie and I thought we played pretty well together," and added: "The first week of training was about making sure we had the combination locked down and I felt that happened really quickly."

At club level Llewellyn has worn 12 for Gloucester only once this season and his only prior start at inside centre for Wales came against England in a World Cup warm-up match in August 2023. He described the distinct demands of the two centre positions and outlined his preference: "The roles are definitely different. At 12 you get a lot more direct tackles and at 13 you get a few more opportunities when you are out in a bit of space. "I enjoy playing both and I am fortunate that I can play both, but in the long-term 12 is where I will probably be. "I think that is where I could get the best out of myself going forward. I enjoy both positions, and they both have different opportunities, but the physical aspect of the game at 12 suits me."

The Nations Championship match kicks off on Saturday, 14 November (14:10 GMT) in Cardiff and can be heard live on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 5Live.