In his latest BBC Wales Sport column, Liam Williams reflects on his Six Nations return, controlling aggression and tackling a rejuvenated Scotland.

I have not played much rugby over the last year due to Covid-19 and injuries, while I missed the Ireland game because I was serving the last game of a three-match ban.

It would be nice just to be injury free and play regularly. I just want to go out there and enjoy it, which has to be the main thing.

You have to work hard and play with a smile of your face. I am not getting any younger and some of the boys in camp are catching me up.

I have had a bit of time to get some fitness in my legs and I am ready to go, but a match situation is totally different when you are chasing balls, tackling and running with the ball.

I have to work hard and try and look after my shirt. I also take my role as a senior player seriously and have been working on that over the last few weeks.

After a period of time on the side, it would be fair comment to say I was hyped up for the Scarlets game against Cardiff Blues in January and I was given a red card which resulted in the suspension.

The lack of game time before that had been quite frustrating because it was my first match after injury, but I can't use that as an excuse.

I wear my heart on my sleeve and maybe went over the edge a bit against the Blues. I have been working on things over the last few weeks and will be looking to play my own game at the weekend.

Controlled aggression is part of my game and helped get me to where I am, but it's about channelling that in the right way.

I had managed to control that over the last few years and Gats (Warren Gatland) had said to me I had matured as a bloke. It is about ensuring that remains the case.

Coping with injuries

Normally I might be looking to come back for Scarlets, but it's straight into the Six Nations, especially with all the injuries we have.

Six-day turnarounds are tricky and there are quite a few players on the sidelines at the moment. That's the nature of the sport we play and we have a big enough squad to cope with a few boys coming in.

There must be one special mention though to my Scarlets team-mate Josh Macleod who has been so unlucky.

He is told he will start and win his first cap for Wales, but less than an hour later he has ruptured his Achilles in training and is out for six months.

This comes after he was picked last autumn, but missed the internationals through injury. I have been speaking to him over the last 24 hours and it feels as if he is a man down.

He has been one of the in-form players for Scarlets over the last couple of seasons and has been outstanding. I am devastated for him, but I am sure he will come back a better player.

On the flip side, one man who could win his first cap is Willis Halaholo who has only come in this week and has already been named on the replacements bench.

He has been world-class for Cardiff Blues for a few seasons and deserves his chance.

Results matter

When reflecting on the Ireland game, the most important thing is that a win's a win. Especially against Ireland in the Six Nations.

We have those four match points on the board in the tournament, it does not matter whether it was against 14 or 15 men.

Defensively I felt we were much better than we were in the autumn and our collision dominance was up. I think some of that was down to Wyn Jones, who was named man-of-the-match, a rare award for a prop.

I will take a bit of credit for that because he was robbing some of my sweets in the build-up which gave him that extra energy. I have given him the sweets this week so hopefully it is a similar result.

We were all relieved at the victory at the end, none more so than Gareth Davies. Now as you imagine, we have all given him a bit of stick for that late kick right at the end which gave Ireland possession and the chance of victory.

He has just had a bit of a 'brain fart' moment. Those were his actual words.

I know Gareth well and I can tell you he was kicking himself more than anyone and he was also reminded about it by the coaches afterwards.

It's always a balancing act when to wind somebody up after the game following an incident like that. When is too soon?

I suppose it depends on whether the mistake has cost the game or not. Luckily on this occasion it did not as we defended well at the end and Ireland fly-half Billy Burns missed the kick to touch.

So on this occasion, I gave him a bit of stick in the changing room straight after the game. It was on the sly and I felt comfortable because I know him well.

The most important thing is how he reacts and he has shown his class so many times on the world stage. So I expect him to have a big game against Scotland leading the forwards around.

There is always room for improvement from the Ireland win, especially in attack and we have talents like Louis Rees-Zammit, who showed what he could do with a class finish. That kid is going to be world-class.

Murrayfield moments

So we feel pretty good going to Scotland who are themselves on a high after their away win against England. They played well and battered England, especially with the back-row they have got and Stuart Hogg was class again.

Scotland are always well drilled and they play well in the unique Murrayfield environment. It is always cold up there and I think it's going to be minus one on the weekend.

The swirling winds always plays a factor up there because the stadium is so tall. The main thing missing will be the thousands of Welsh fans who make the Scottish trip and turn Murrayfield red.

Away days for the team are also different now. We go up on Friday and when we are not at the stadium, we won't leave the hotel.

I will take my games console and a pack of cards to help fill the time because we will be staying within our own bubble and heading straight back home after the game.

Hopefully we will celebrating two wins from two.