Williams will make his 46th appearance in the tournament when he plays against France on Friday night and go one better than the man dubbed Wales’ greatest ever player.
The jersey is a replica of the one Williams will wear in Paris, already unique because of the new ‘Try Essai’ logo introduced by sponsors Brains SA, but this one carries the number ‘46’ on the back instead of the flanker’s traditional number seven.
And the Cardiff Blues flanker also returned the favour, presenting Edwards with one of the newly released limited edition ‘Try Essai’ t-shirts produced by the WRU complete the markings ‘Edwards 45’ on the reverse.
Williams drew level with the former Cardiff, Wales and Lions scrum half – who made 45 consecutive appearances for Wales in the championship between1967-1978 – in the victory over England.
Edwards won three Grand Slams (1971, 1976, 1978) during his record breaking career – he made 53 consecutive appearances for his country to become the first Welshman to win 50 caps and lead the appearance record with 53 until overtaken by JPR Williams – and also went on three British & Irish Lions tours.
Williams will be aiming to keep Wales on course for a third Grand Slam in the 2000s in Paris in a bid to match Edwards’ record of three Slams. Edwards, JPR Williams (1971, 1976, 1978), Billy Trew (1908. 1909, 1911) and James Webb (1908, 1909, 1911) hold the record for playing the most Grand Slam matches with 12.
Williams, and those players who featured in all the Grand Slam games in 2005 and 2008, will overtake that if they can complete their quest to become the first team since the French in 1997 and 1998 to complete back-to-back Grand Slams.
“I had no idea that I held the record, but I can’t think of a better player to improve the number of games I played for Wales in the championship,” said Edwards.
“He has been a great example of the modern game and been the ultimate professional. He is playing as well as I think I have ever seen him play and the important thing is that I believe he can go on for many, many more games in a Welsh jersey.
“I know that is Warren Gatland’s intention for him and it was just as well for Wales that Warren managed to convince Martyn not to hang up his international boots after the 2007 Rugby World Cup. He is a great ambassador for the game in Wales and nothing would please me more than to see him score a try again in Paris on Friday night.
“That would be the perfect way in which to crown his record breaking appearance.”
But while Williams has that overall Welsh championship appearance record within touching distance, he will have to go some in terms of championship success.
Martyn has won 19 and drawn two of those 45 tournament matches while JPR had 34 wins and three draws; Gareth Edwards 32 and four draws; Gerald Davies 27 and three draws; Ken Jones 26 and two draws and Mervyn Davies 23 and three draws.
The unique ‘Try Essai’ t-shirts have been produced due to the latest initiative from Welsh beer brand Brains in reference to the ‘Brains SA’ logo on the current home shirt.
While ‘essai’ translates as ‘try’ in French, spoken aloud in English the insignia is intended to be mistaken for an invitation to ‘try’ Wales’ best loved beer brand SA.
Brains has been sponsoring the Welsh team for the last four and a half years and in 2005 they neatly swapped ‘Brains’ for ‘Brawn’ then, in 2007, to firmly establish the ‘Brawn’ idea in rugby fans minds, the shirts carried ‘Brawn Again’.
The WRU has followed up on the popularity of the Brains shirts with some replica t-shirts of its own available in official outlets.
These t-shirts, the first of their kind to be retailed, have been produced by Under Armour for a limited edition range of just 500, for the price of £19,99 and are available online at www.wru.co.uk and selected WRU Under Armour stockists.
“Brains have shown ingenuity in previous seasons with their ‘Brawn’ and ‘Brawn Again’ logos and the idea has always been very popular with Wales fans,” said WRU head of marketing Gwyn Dolphin.
“T-shirts have been produced in the past, but they have never been made generally available to fans and we fully expect the limited edition range to become a must have item for discerning Wales followers.”
Richard Davies, Sales and Marketing Director at Brains explains: “This is the third time we’ve been presented with a shirt change for the French game, which we’ve always seen as an opportunity. We knew we had to do something different this year but that we still had to have fun with it. At a marketing team ideas session we went through several options before hitting upon what we believe to be our best link back to our main brand SA.”
CHAMPIONSHIP 50-CLUB
Mike Gibson – 56
Jason Leonard – 54
Willie-John McBride – 53
Philippe Sella – 50
Rory Underwood – 50
TOP 20 WELSH CHAMPIONSHIP APPEARANCES
Gareth Edwards – 45
Martyn Williams – 45
JPR Williams – 44
Ken Jones – 41
Neil Jenkins – 41
Gareth Llewellyn – 39
Stephen Jones – 38
Gerald Davies – 38
Gareth Thomas – 37
Ieuan Evans – 36
Colin Charvis – 36
Graham Price – 35
Billy Bancroft – 33*
Robert Jones – 33
Ian Gough – 32
Dickie Owen – 32*
Bryn Meredith – 32
Gethin Jenkins – 31
Dwayne Peel – 31
Mervyn Davies – 31
* Includes matches played before ‘official’ start of championship in 1910.
