After growing up admiring Sonny Bill Williams in action for New Zealand, Wales centre Max Llewellyn hopes to give the All Blacks some offloading headaches.

Llewellyn is poised to line up at inside centre when Steve Tandy's side welcome New Zealand to Cardiff in the Nations Championship on Saturday (14:10 GMT).

The 6ft 6in Gloucester back grew up watching the double-World Cup winning All Blacks side that featured Dan Carter, Richie McCaw, Ma'a Nonu, Sam Whitelock and Kieran Read.

Yet it was the sizeable frame of dual-code icon Williams - with his ability to free his arms and keep the ball alive - that caught the eye of Llewellyn.

"He was probably someone that I really enjoyed watching when growing up," said the 27-year-old.

"I was a centre, he was a centre and he had a similar frame. I really enjoyed what he did in bringing the offload into rugby.

"That kind of changed the game a bit and was something that I looked at and wanted to emulate."

Llewellyn has done something that not many Welsh rugby players have - he has beaten New Zealand.

That was in the 2019 World Rugby Under-20 Championship in Argentina, but few expect that shock age-grade success to be repeated at senior level this weekend.

Wales have lost 34 successive games in a streak of misery that goes back to 1953, including the agonising one-point loss in 2004 when Llewellyn's father Gareth was in the second row.

Last Saturday's unconvincing 28-21 win against Japan did little to raise hopes of a huge upset, but the centre stresses there is not a defeatist mindset in the Welsh camp.

Llewellyn said: "There's always the belief, especially when you come into work and you are in this Welsh jersey, that you can win.

"We are always willing to deliver everything we can, and above, to make that happen.

"We have been working really hard to make our performances more consistent and better. If we can do that then we will be in a really good spot to be a lot more competitive on Saturday."

Llewellyn was paired with Scarlets' James, 6ft 4in, for the first time against Japan.

It was Steve Tandy's sixth different centre partnership and signalled a move away from Wales' policy of fielding a ball-player in either Joe Hawkins or Ben Thomas in midfield.

"I really enjoyed it. It was the first that I have played with Eddie and I thought we played pretty well together," said Llewellyn.

"The first week of training was about making sure we had the combination locked down and I felt that happened really quickly."

Llewellyn has had 12 on his back just once for Gloucester this season and his only previous start at inside centre for Wales was against England in a World Cup warm-up game in August 2023.

It is where the former Cardiff back sees his long-term future.

He said: "The roles are definitely different. At 12 you get a lot more direct tackles and at 13 you get a few more opportunities when you are out in a bit of space.

"I enjoy playing both and I am fortunate that I can play both, but in the long-term 12 is where I will probably be.

"I think that is where I could get the best out of myself going forward. I enjoy both positions, and they both have different opportunities, but the physical aspect of the game at 12 suits me."