The bookmakers’ tournament favourites face a testing opener against Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday.

Some punters have suggested Wales need only to turn up to guarantee silverware following a year when they won the Grand Slam, became Europe’s top ranked team and claimed the scalp of Tri-Nations heavyweights Australia.

However, Williams has been around long enough to know Wales must handle such expectation in the right fashion.

“A lot of emphasis has been put on us from outside about being favourites and so on,” he said.

“But we’ve taken that with a pinch of salt. We know we have got to approach this tournament the same as we approach every Six Nations, and that’s being full of confidence and fully prepared.

“We’ve trained really well. We are there or thereabouts in terms of our preparation for the first game.

“But Murrayfield is a tough place to play and we know it is a very good Scotland side. We will need to be on top of our game.

“We are a confident side. There is a confidence in our ability as a team and as individuals, but I don’t think we’ve got a label of arrogance in the squad.

“You’ve got to have confidence. You can’t go into these games thinking you want to do well, you’ve got to go in with a positive mindset, which is a little bit different from being arrogant.”

Wales boss Warren Gatland has urged his players to embrace the favourites’ tag, rather than view it as a suffocating burden.

And there should be more than enough experience - 565 caps’ worth on Sunday - to ensure Wales go about their business without fear of taking their eye off the ball.

Williams added: “We’ve been made favourites and teams will be going out to gun us down and prove a point.

“It is a tournament, we are the champions and these teams will want to to go out and beat the champions.

“Of course we would love to do what we did last year. Winning the Grand Slam was a great few weeks but we know it’s going to be tough.

“I don’t think you can play the same game against all teams. There are lots of things you have to tweak and change, a lot of work goes on in the classroom with analysis.

“Generally, we want to play the game that suits us and concentrate on how we want to play and not worry about how other teams want us to play.

“The victory over Australia in November reminded us how well we can play.

“We were disappointed the way we played in the first half against South Africa, and then the second half against New Zealand.

“We didn’t get a consistent 80 minutes and we know we are capable of doing that. We are a fit side that can play for the whole game.

“I think in the Australia game we got everything right and it reminded us when we can play consistently for 80 minutes, we can win the big games.”