Veteran Llewellyn is going strong

Wings of change for Wales

Veteran lock Gareth Llewellyn will win his 92nd Test cap against New Zealand on Saturday, almost 15 years to the day after making his Wales debut against the All Blacks at the old Cardiff Arms Park.

Llewellyn was named on Tuesday in a side which believes strongly that Wales' painful 51-year wait for victory over New Zealand can be brought to a famous end on Saturday evening at the Millennium Stadium.

The 35-year-old will join All Black legend Sean Fitzpatrick - who was playing for New Zealand the day Llewellyn made his debut - on 92 Test caps. There will only be six men in the history of the game to have played more international rugby than him.

Fifteen years ago, Llewellyn packed down in his debut Test alongside Phil Davies, now the director of rugby at Leeds.

On Saturday he will be joined in the second row by a fit-again Brent Cockbain, who replaces the injured Luke Charteris.

Head coach Mike Ruddock has made three other changes from Wales' 66-7 cruise against Romania with Tom Shanklin, who equalled the Welsh record with four tries, switching to the wing as cover for Rhys Williams.

Shanklin's switch opens the way for Sonny Parker to start at outside centre against his homeland while Shane Williams returns to Shanklin's opposite wing.

The Welsh public have a healthy sense of expectation that their team might just prevail on Saturday, thereby ending a frustrating run of near misses against major opposition.

The players are high on self-belief and Ruddock tonight issued a rallying cry to his men: "It's one mighty challenge to take on the All Blacks, particularly given our record over the last 50 years, but we have to aim high.

"We will be doing our utmost to win the game even though we start as the underdogs - Wales have not beaten New Zealand since 1953.

"My challenge to my players is to put themselves in the history books this Saturday."

Wales captain Gareth Thomas declared the time has come for his side to shed their tag of "nearly-men" and claim that major scalp.

It prompted All Blacks coach Graham Henry to joke: "Can't they wait a few more weeks? England in February would be much more significant."

But Thomas and the Welsh side who have come so close in the last year have run out of patience.

They were beaten by the All Blacks in a frenetic World Cup clash in Sydney and a week later failed to close out the win over England in the quarter-final.

They gave England another almighty scare in the RBS Six Nations, were beaten by one converted score to Grand Slam winners France and then 10 days ago lost to South Africa, the Tri-Nations champions, by two points at the Millennium Stadium.

Thomas believes the time has now come for them to finally nail that big scalp.

"We have a tag as the nearly men," he said.

"I think it is time to end that. I thought the time had come against South Africa. I believed before the match against South Africa we could have beaten them.

"I believe going into the New Zealand game that we can beat them and so do the rest of the team.

"To shake that tag would be a hindrance off our shoulders. It is getting a bit of a pain now. The boys do want to win and they do want to take one of the big teams out."

Despite his rousing words, Thomas is anxious that the supporters do not get ahead of themselves and he has quick to play down assertions that Wales might actually be favourites.

Although South Africa are champions of the southern hemisphere, Thomas views New Zealand as a more potent all-round threat.

"The boys are upbeat but not over-confident. From one to 22 they are probably a lot more of a dangerous team than South Africa," said Thomas.

"South Africa scored 28 points from our mistakes. New Zealand are a lot more capable of creating things with their own ball. They are capable of cutting teams to shreds."

Ruddock will encourage his team to play attractive, attacking rugby, but he warned: "The task ahead is a massive one. New Zealand are such a talented and extremely well coached team, they have match winners throughout their side and exceptional pace.

"Dan Carter (the All Blacks fly-half) was extremely impressive in the Italy game last week, as was (flanker) Richie McCaw and we know all about the power of their pack and their explosive back three."

Little, though, will douse the fervour heading into Saturday's clash. The Millennium Stadium is a sell-out, the senior New Zealand players are already warning the debutants about the crescendo of noise they can expect.

Wales: 15 Gareth Thomas (Toulouse, captain), 14 Tom Shanklin (Cardiff), 13 Sonny Parker (Neath-Swansea), 12 Gaving Henson (Neath-Swansea), 11 Shane Williams (Neath-Swansea), 10 Stephen Jones (Clermont Auvergne), 9 Dwayne Peel (Llanelli), 8 Michael Owen (Newport Gwent), 7 Colin Charvis (Newcastle), 6 Dafydd Jones (Llanelli), 5 Gareth Llewellyn (Narbonne), 4 Brent Cockbain (Neath-Swansea), 3 Adam Jones (Neath-Swansea), 2 Mefin Davies (Neath-Swansea), 1 Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff).
Replacements (one further name to be confirmed): 16 Steven Jones (Newport Gwent), 17 Duncan Jones (Neath-Swansea), 18 Ryan Jones (Neath-Swansea), 19 Martyn Williams (Cardiff), 20 Gareth Cooper (Newport Gwent), 21 Ceri Sweeney (Newport Gwent).

Kick-off: 18.00 GMT