This weekend, Dewi Lake will captain Wales for the first time, at Twickenham against England.
Technically speaking though, it isn’t his debut run-out as skipper of Cymru. He did so for the under-20s back in 2019, where they defeated New Zealand 8-9 in a monumental victory.
Funnily enough, it was surprise World Cup training squad call-up Cai Evans who slotted the match-winning penalty four years ago.
After the match, captain Lake could barely hold back the tears, showing viewers just how much it meant to lead Wales to victory.
You can watch the touching video below.
If it was tough to process that one, and this weekend will be a different world altogether.
It will be a huge step in Lake’s career in the second warm-up Test, as he tries to prove to Warren Gatland that he’s the man to lead the team in France.
If auditioning for the captaincy wasn’t already a huge challenge, Jac Morgan made things more difficult with his talismanic performance against England in Cardiff last weekend, typified by his shattering hit on Tom Pearson.
It’s clear how much representing and leading his country means to Lake. In that 2019 interview, the emotional hooker told S4C: “There’s not much I can say, to be honest, I’m just so proud of the boys today and it means a lot. I’m just happy.”
Asked about his pride as captain, he said: “Yes, but that’s not what it’s about, it’s about the scoreboard at the end.
“We knew it would be a physical game and that we would have to match them up front and that’s what we’ve done today. Occasionally in this tournament we’ve been beaten up front.
“Credit to Cai Evans for that last kick but credit to the whole squad for the performance.”
There were a sea of familiar faces in the 2019 face-off: Rio Dyer, Max Llewelyn, Kemsley Mathias, Tommy Reffell, Jac Morgan, Sam Costelow and Teddy Williams were all in the Wales squad that day.
And starting for New Zealand in second row, was none other than new Wales call-up Taine Plumtree, who will be part of the same pack as Lake this weekend.
Win tickets to Wales v South Africa and meet the players courtesy of Dove Men+Care
