Wales lock Adam Beard will be hoping for a smoother build-up to the World Cup after his appendectomy on the eve of the 2019 tournament – and will look for back-to-back victories over bitter rivals England at Twickenham

Adam Beard’s first World Cup got off to a false start four years ago when he missed the departure flight from Wales to Japan to have his appendix removed.

The giant lock forward complained that he felt ill on the way to Heathrow and if he had boarded a plane to the Far East his health could have been in serious danger.

Beard recovered from the operating table and made four appearances in 2019 as Wales reached the semi-finals.

Now, with another global showpiece on the horizon, Beard is hoping for another successful tournament, albeit one with a more straightforward build.

“I’m sure my appendix won’t go away this time,” Beard said, with a big grin on his face as he looked ahead to Saturday’s World Cup warm-up match with England at Twickenham.

Beard underwent appendectomy prior to the tournament, but returned to make four appearances in Japan as Wales reached the semi-finals

“That’s already gone, so it should be good!” Hopefully that won’t happen in the run-up to this World Cup. In the last World Cup I played four games. If you had asked me when I got off that operating table from the appendix, I probably would have said I didn’t play at that World Cup.

“I was lucky that the coaches gave me that chance and they believed in me to go out and perform for them.”

Barring further last-minute health concerns, Beard is a virtual certainty to be part of Wales’ 2023 World Cup squad. He starts against England on Saturday as Warren Gatland’s side look for back-to-back wins over their fiercest rivals.

England head coach Steve Borthwick has his big guns back. The Wales side are not at their full potential but there is still plenty of experience in the form of Liam Williams, Josh Adams, Tomas Francis, Beard and Dan Lydiate who will all take the Twickenham field from the start.

Beard watched Wales’ 20-9 victory over a second-tier England side from the bench last weekend, surrounded by his wife Chelsea and two young boys. He returns to action on Saturday as part of an all-new Wales XV looking to impress with World Cup places still on the line. Head coach Gatland has handed over the Wales captaincy to Dewi Lake.

“I was extremely proud to see how the guys went last weekend,” said Beard. “This is the strongest I’ve ever been, so going into these games I feel like I’m in a really good position physically.

Beard is about to start for Wales as they play a second World Cup warm-up game against fierce rivals England on Saturday

The Gatland side defeated England 20-9 on home soil at the Principality Stadium last week

“There have been a lot of changes in the side since last weekend so it’s a great opportunity to show what we can do as a team.

“There’s no bigger Test match than going to Twickenham and seeing the England side, it’s quite packed.

A win would of course be nice, but with the bigger picture we only look at performance. You saw what the 23 did last Saturday. It’s about us guys replicating that and also improving because even though we got a good win, there’s still room for improvement.”

After meeting England on Saturday, Wales will face defending World Cup champions South Africa next weekend in Cardiff, with Gatland set to designate his final squad for France on August 21.