He is bigger than many forwards, described as “annoyingly fast” by Shane Williams, who is no slouch himself, and is the youngest man to play for Wales. As if this were not enough for the teenager, he is also the youngest to play in the RBS Six Nations, younger than Mathew Tait, of England.

Meet tall Tom Prydie, all 6ft 4in, who will be 18 years and 27 days on Saturday and has been selected for Wales on the right wing for the match against Italy at the Millennium Stadium in the last round of the RBS Six Nations Championship.

Prydie is one of two young Ospreys - Kristian Phillips is the other - who have a stamp of real class about them. When Shane Williams attended a pre-season training session at the west Wales region he saw these two young men and marvelled. “They wouldn’t look out of place on an athletics track,” he said. “They look like real athletes.”

Prydie takes the place of Leigh Halfpenny, on the right wing. Halfpenny may need an operation and may therefore miss the tour to New Zealand this summer.

“Tom is the fastest player in the squad and has been with us for the duration of the [Six Nations] campaign,” Warren Gatland, the Wales head coach, said. “We wanted to have a look at him and at Kristian and we have been impressed with both of them. Tom has an ability to handle the physical side of things. He is a strong tackler and he carries the ball well.”

Apart from unveiling Prydie, Gatland has gone for known form and is probably pleased to be able to select Mike Phillips at scrum-half for the first time this season, to have Ryan Jones back as captain and to recall Gethin Jenkins at loose-head prop. The Wales front row to face the powerful Italian trio is an all-Lions front three, together for the first time since the series against South Africa last summer.

The one casualty is Martyn Williams, the open-side flanker who has been so important to Wales since he made his debut in 1996. But he is 34 and has not been in his best form in Wales’s recent matches. When he was captain against Ireland in Ryan Jones’s absence he was, for him, relatively anonymous.

Replacing Williams is Sam Warburton, 21, a considerably more physical player. Gatland was quick not to shut the door on Williams, however. “He is closing on 100 caps and he is very important to us but we have to look ahead to this summer’s tour and next year’s World Cup and we need cover for Martyn," the head coach said. “We are under no illusions that Italy will be tough on Saturday. We found it hard to break them down here two years ago and they have performed well in each game of the tournament so far.

"We are all very disappointed with our performance against Ireland and we need to demonstrate our passion and pride in the Welsh jersey and show everyone what it means to play for our country.”

Wales team to play Italy:
L Byrne (Ospreys); T Prydie (Ospreys), J Hook (Ospreys), J Roberts (Cardiff Blues), S Williams (Ospreys); S Jones (Llanelli Scarlets), M Phillips (Ospreys); G Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), M Rees (Llanelli Scarlets), A Jones (Ospreys), B Davies (Cardiff Blues), L Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), J Thomas (Ospreys), S Warburton (Cardiff Blues), R Jones (Ospreys). Replacements: H Bennett (Ospreys), P James (Ospreys), I Gough (Ospreys), G Delve (Gloucester Rugby), D Peel (Sale Sharks), A Bishop (Ospreys), T Shanklin (Cardiff Blues).