Lloyd Williams: Cardiff Blues scrum-half never gave up hope of Wales return
- Published
Lloyd Williams' appearance against Scotland was his first for Wales since a 33-30 win over Japan in November 2016
Lloyd Williams says he never gave up hope of earning a Wales recall after winning his first cap in almost four years.
Williams came off the bench in Wales' 14-10 defeat to Scotland last Saturday.
The Cardiff Blues scrum-half, 30, had not played international rugby since November 2016 but always believed he could return.
"It always was a goal of mine and will be as long as I am playing," Williams said.
Williams was summoned by Wayne Pivac after Rhys Webb picked up a knee injury in the friendly defeat in France on 24 October.
He was en route to Ireland for Blues' Pro14 game against Munster when the call came to join up with Wales.
"It came as a surprise as I wasn't aware of any injuries in the (France) game," Williams said.
"It was a bit of a shock in that sense, but I am always optimistic and always trying to play as well as I can so that if something does happen, I am knocking on the door.
"Things at the Blues are going well and I guess with Webby getting injured, the door opened for me to come back in and try to work hard."
The next target for Williams, who played at the 2011 and 2015 World Cups, is to add to his tally of Wales caps - which now stands at 29 - in the upcoming Autumn Nations Cup.
Williams says Wales have spent this week "trying to put things right" after the Scotland loss as they build towards a meeting with Ireland on 13 November.
"Scotland have some players who like to get over the ball and slow things up and they did that quite well," Williams said.
"I think they realise what firepower Wales have got if the speed of ball is high. It will be a common trait I think - teams will try to slow Wales up because they want to restrict the speed of ball.
"It was something we prepped for but all credit to them, they did a good job.
"There were times when the ball did speed up and we were looking to get into shape and trying to build some momentum, but on the whole I thought Scotland did a good job of making that area a bit of a mess. It's always tough then for a team to really get going."