But the 34-year-old has been in Poland with the rest of the Wales squad for the first of two World Cup skills and fitness training camps and has so far come through with flying colours.

However, Williams is refusing to get carried away and knows he still has plenty of work to do to force himself into the final reckoning.

“This is the first proper running I’ve done since the injury in March,” said Williams.

“But I’m back doing everything the rest of the squad are doing, working hard on both skills and the conditioning side of things here in Poland, and I’m feeling good.

“All I need to do next is catch up with them because the boys have been training really hard.

“I’m back and fit again but I want to be quicker than I’ve ever been and we think that is possible.

“It’s strange but, at 34 years old with 79 caps, I’m realising that I haven’t been running properly and that if I can pick up a few different things I can be quicker.

“That’s brilliant news for a rugby player, everyone wants to be quicker, from the forwards through to the backs, but if I can achieve that at this stage in my career then I’ll be really happy.

“But I’ve got plenty of competition with the likes of George North doing the same training and apparently testing pretty highly.

“We haven’t done the sprint test yet and I don’t think I’m quite up to top speed yet myself after the injury, but it will be interesting to see who is the fastest.

“I’m not going to make any claims though, I’ll do my talking on the track when the time comes.”