The Blues booked their place in the Challenge Cup final after seeing off Wasps 18-15 at the start of the month and will now face French giants Toulon.

Cardiff’s triumph at Arms Park came almost exactly a year after they slumped to a cruel Heineken Cup semi-final penalty shoot-out defeat to Leicester.

And flanker Williams – who has made 95 appearances for Wales – admits the pain of that afternoon at the Millennium Stadium has almost been erased by making the Amlin Challenge Cup final.

“We did brilliantly to get to the Heineken Cup semi-finals last year and it was a really tough way to go out against Leicester,” said Williams.

“But this does make up for it in some way – and we know it is going to be one of the biggest games in the Blues’ history and they are games you want to be involved in.

“Our season was frittering out three or four months ago and all of a sudden we are in a European final and we would have taken that even three or four weeks ago.”