Tomos Williams' Lions claims endorsed by Gloucester boss

Gloucester Director of Rugby George Skivington has backed Tomos Williams to be on the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia if he maintains his current form.

Williams, who turns 30 on New Year’s Day, is one of the few contenders from Wales to make the trip after a superb start to his Cherry & Whites career.

The 59-cap scrum-half has been in excellent form, scoring four tries in seven Premiership matches, and marked his return from a shoulder injury last weekend with a Player of the Match performance in the 14-0 win over Harlequins.

Skivington said: “Tomos has been brilliant for us this year, he has been outstanding on the field and off the field and I think he has really shown real good qualities as a rugby player and as a person.

“He goes from strength to strength. He had a great game on Friday night considering he’s been out for six weeks, or whatever it was; he managed to play 80 minutes and had some good touches that made a really big difference within the game.

“I think if he carries on playing this well and goes into the Six Nations and does it for Wales, I think he has got a really strong chance to be on that plane.”

Head-to-Head

Last 5 Meetings

Wins

4

Draws

0

Wins

1

Average Points scored

25

30

First try wins

100%

Home team wins

80%

Williams appears in an all-Welsh half-back pairing alongside Gareth Anscombe for Sunday’s trip to Premiership cellar dwellers Exeter.

Gloucester lost at Sandy Park in Exeter’s maiden Premiership match in 2010 and their fortunes there have barely improved there ever since.

It is 10 games and nearly a decade since they last won in the league at the Devon venue and Skivington insists there will be no sense of complacency despite the Chiefs having failed to win a game yet. A 31-7 home loss to Exeter in the Premiership Cup last month remains firmly in his mind.

“We had a similar run last year and I don’t think Rob (Baxter) will be too rattled by it,” the former London Irish lock said.

“Rob has been in the game a long time and is much more experienced than I am and he’s had some really good times and he’s had some times when he has really had to graft, and I think he’ll have a plan.

“I know for a fact he’ll believe in his systems and the way he does stuff and he’ll stick to his guns; he’s a smart rugby coach.

“We saw them up here in the Prem Rugby Cup and we saw exactly what they can do when they are on it. Whatever he did that week really caught us off guard.

“As a coach, you sign up for this world of highs, lows and getting judged on everything you are doing and you take the rough with the smooth but Rob has seen it all.

“It’s a tough place to go and it’ll be really tough this weekend as well.”