Llewellyn aiming to follow in Roberts' footsteps

Max Llewellyn won both Wales caps during the summer of 2023

Welsh rugby may be endlessly looking for natural successors to heroes of the past but has an obvious heir in Max Llewellyn.

The Gloucester centre, the son of former Wales captain Gareth, is unabashed in his admiration of former Wales star Jamie Roberts.

He wears the same 12 jersey as the British & Irish Lion having also launched his career at the same club, Cardiff, and even attended the same high school in the city.

And at 6ft 3ins (1.96m) and 16st 4lbs (104kg), it is clear that Llewellyn can also walk the walk, wherever that may take him.

Little wonder then that Roberts has already tipped the 25 year-old to make a big impression at international level this season.

"Growing up, Jamie was always a role model given we play the same position and went to the same school.

"I look at the career he had, the places he went and the clubs he played for and I think that would be pretty exciting to do the same."

Leaving Cardiff 18 months ago, amid the regional budget crash, but has served Llewellyn well. He has scored five tries in six starts this season and is among five players from Gloucester named in Warren Gatland's autumn squad.

It could also prove the fuel for his rugby wanderlust.

Roberts used his rugby talents to travel the globe, enjoying playing stints in England, France, Australia and South Africa, and Llewellyn already has an eye on the same.

"It was difficult to leave Cardiff but with everything going on in Welsh rugby and the club unable to even make me an offer, it made the decision pretty easy," he said.

"I had also always had an ambition to play in the English Premiership and one day, perhaps France as well. I still do and I'd love rugby to take off in other countries like America. I'd love to have those experiences."

Gareth Llewellyn won 92 caps for Wales between 1989 and 2004

It was a path also trodden by his father, who played at Harlequins and Narbonne during a career that saw him win a then record 92 caps for Wales and makes him a perfect sounding board for the younger Llewellyn.

A keen golfer and, in his teens, tennis player, Max is now among a crop of Gloucester players to have taken up padel, a hybrid of tennis and squash, and the required racket skills and footwork are serving him well.

"I've become more direct as I've got bigger but growing up, I was always skinny so I knew I also had to use my feet to beat people," he said.

"I'll always be judged on getting across the gain line and I can do that best at 12, plus I love being in the thick of the action.

"I love it when a forward peel around and runs straight at me. I'd much rather that than be in 10 metres of space with a Cheslin Kolbe opposite. That's far more scary."

He could yet face Kolbe this autumn with world champions South Africa the last visitors to Cardiff after Fiji and Australia.

But he faces tough competition to add to his two caps earned last summer before the World Cup with Wales blooding a new crop of inside centres.

From what was a problem position, immediately post Jamie Roberts, Warren Gatland also has Llewellyn's former Cardiff teammates Ben Thomas and Mason Grady to chose from as well as Eddie James or the experience of Nick Tompkins.

Llewellyn said; "We've got some great competition but also good chemistry because a few of us have grown up together. That will push us all on."