Llewellyn Comes In For Injured Gough
Neath skipper Gareth Llewellyn, the grand daddy of Welsh forwards, is in line to extend his Welsh cap record for a pack member at Twickenham on Saturday.
The 33-year-old has been elevated from the Wales A team to take Ian Gough’s place among the replacements following the Newport lock’s failure to pass a fitness test.
If Llewellyn makes it onto the field then he will win his 65th cap. He made his debut as a 20-year-old against New Zealand in 1989.
If Wales coach Steve Hansen gives him a run then he will become the longest surving international player in the world today – even beating his former NEC Harlequins team mate, the England prop Jason Leonard, who was first capped in 1990.
A veteran of nine previous games against England, the man who led Wales on seven occasions was a winner against the auld enemy in 1993.
Llewellyn won his last cap in the 1999 World Cup, against Samoa and could aim for a third World Cup in Australia next year.