Colin Charvis says he would feel privileged if asked to captain Wales for another season. The Newcastle flanker, captain for the past two years, is one of six players to be interviewed for the role by coach Mike Ruddock next week.
"It means a hell of a lot to me to captain Wales," Charvis told BBC TV's Scrum V rugby programme.
"I've enjoyed the job, there's no doubt about that. If I get the privilege again I'd relish every moment of it."
The 31-year-old's reign as Wales captain has often been a controversial one since his initial appointment by Steve Hansen in April 2002.
He was stripped of the captaincy after just one year, only to be reinstated to lead Wales at last year's World Cup.
But his refusal to conduct his media duties on the 2004 summer tour to Argentina over a pay dispute almost cost him the armband once again.
Charvis, capped 71 times, is seven weeks into his new life in the Zurich Premiership with Newcastle Falcons, and has won instant praise from coach Rob Andrew.
The former England fly-half has questioned Ruddock's need for an interview process to decide the Wales captaincy, suggesting Ruddock should already know who is or who is not up to the job. But on the evidence of his early season form and influence, Andrew believes Charvis should be re-appointed.
"He's got a good rugby brain. He understands the game," Andrew told BBC Wales Sport.
"You read reports on how difficult Colin is and how much of a trouble-maker he is. He hasn't been here [at Newcastle] long, but we haven't seen any of that.
"He's fairly understated in many respects. He's one of these guys who doesn't say an awful lot but when he does say something it's very meaningful and the rest of the guys respond to it.
He added: "I'm not convinced you need to interview. You should know your players well enough to know whether or not they can or can't do a job of captaincy."
Charvis feels he will benefit from being away from the "goldfish bowl of the Welsh media" at Newcastle, although he accepts that living so far away from the Cardiff training base could spark some club versus country tension.
He added: "It's very difficult when you have to give up a couple of days to go back to Wales.
 |  What's important for me is to wear the black shirt of Newcastle and hopefully my red shirt for Wales |
"It's not as simple as when I lived just an hour away in Swansea. We've just got to find a balance for that. "So long as they want me in the Wales squad I'll do my utmost to get down to Cardiff and be with the guys."
Stephen Jones, Martyn Williams and Gareth Thomas are the other leading contenders to captain Wales, with youngsters Jonathan Thomas and Michael Owen also thought to be interviewed by Ruddock.
"What's paramount is whoever gets the job shows him [Ruddock] a huge degree of support in what he's doing and what he's promoting on the pitch," Charvis added.
"I'm enjoying my rugby here [at Newcastle]. What's paramount for me is to wear the black shirt of Newcastle and hopefully my red shirt for Wales.
"We'll just have to wait and see on the second one."
MMIX
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