Waiting in the wings to wreak havoc one last time
At the age of 34, Williams has decided that this autumn’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand will mark his final appearance in a Wales shirt. Which means tomorrow’s clash with Ireland will be most likely be his last against the boys in green.
And after a glittering international career in which the 5ft 7ins Ospreys star has scored 53 tries in 78 appearances, dating back to his debut as a Six Nations substitute against France in 2000, that is something only the defence coaches will not lament.
Former Wales team-mate Colin Charvis certainly thinks Williams’ decision is premature.
“He’s made his decision but a lot of fans would love to see him playing and playing for the next three or four years, maybe even to the next World Cup,” Charvis said.
“But if he decides he’s had enough, the drive and determination he’s shown over the years to create the player that he is, if he says enough is enough, I think that’s it.”
He will continue to terrorise Heineken Cup and Magners League defences with Ospreys, where Ireland wing Tommy Bowe has got to know his international rival well during his stint at the Welsh region.
“He’s a lovely fella, a nice guy,” Bowe said this week. “For one of the poster boys of Welsh rugby, he’s a quiet fella, very humble and a good squad man.”
Poster boy indeed. Williams was instrumental in Wales’s Six Nations Grand Slam successes of 2005 and 2008, the latter seeing him score six tries in the championship and nine in 10 Tests to earn him the 2008 IRB World Player of the Year award.
Williams has reshaped the Welsh record books, first eclipsing the heroes of his childhood, Gerald Davies and Gareth Edwards, then the previous generation in Ieuan Evans and latterly his contemporaries Charvis and Gareth Thomas as the greatest try scorer in his country’s rich history.
As the 2011 championship hove into view, he started this current campaign just two behind Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll as the overall leading try-scorer in the Six Nations.
O’Driscoll, starting 2011 on 22 tries from 50 Six Nations matches, added another in the opener against Italy but Williams, having played 37, has since closed the gap with a pair of tries in Wales’s win over Scotland four weeks ago. So, at 23-22, O’Driscoll will take a slender lead over his British & Irish Lions team-mate into tomorrow’s game at the Millennium Stadium.
The Ireland skipper could do little to disguise his respect for Williams when asked this week to single out a Wales player who could pose the biggest threat to his side.
“I think Wales really tick when Shane Williams is playing well for them,” O’Driscoll said. “He gets his hands on the ball a hell of a lot more than most international wingers and he has big moments in big games for them. He’s scored over a half century of tries in 70-something Test matches, which is a fairly impressive strike rate. So, you look at that alone, and they’re going to get the ball into his hands and create trouble for us defensively. I don’t think you have to be a genius to work it out.”
Bowe echoed his captain when asked this week what Williams is like to play against. “I think the style of play, for Wales, suits him. He’s able to get himself into position, he’s one of these players who shows up in the right place at the right time. His scoring record for Wales is absolutely incredible, and I think he just seems to be able to get on the shoulder of people making breaks, and he seems to be the person who is able to get his hands on the ball and go through holes. It’s nice with Ospreys having him on my own team.”
It is clear that Shane Williams is held in high regard by team-mates and opponents alike yet the man himself has a more modest view of where his place lies in the pantheon of Welsh rugby greats.
“I don’t see myself as anywhere near being a legend,” he said. “Legends for me are the Gerald Davies, the Gareth Edwards, my heroes of that time.
“I want to go out on a high, I want to have a good Six Nations and I want to play in the World Cup. You never say never but I need to worry, I suppose that’s the word, worry about my rugby and hopefully it will be a successful year with both the Ospreys and with Wales.
“We’ll wait and see.”
WARREN GATLAND will highlight Ireland’s serial offending to ref Jonathan Kaplan ahead of Wales’ Six Nations clash in Cardiff.
Scotland coach Andy Robinson bemoaned Irish foul play after their defeat last month as he claimed Ireland conceded penalties to “slow down your rhythm”.
Ireland have conceded 34 penalties in this Six Nations but Wales are the most undisciplined, conceding 36 penalties. “It is something we will talk to the referee about,” said coach Gatland.
The Wales boss acknowledges his side have been guilty of ill-discipline, admitting “we have given away a few ourselves.” But Gatland will talk to South African official Kaplan as the Kiwi is keen to employ a high-tempo game in a bid to end Ireland’s Cardiff hoodoo.
Gatland’s team are bidding for their third successive victory in this season’s Six Nations. But Gatland wants his Welsh side to have “quick ball” to enhance their own Championship push.
“If we do get our chance to get quick ball, it gives us a chance to keep the ball in hand and to play some attacking rugby,” he said.
“That will be key for us and we will be talking to the ref about getting his cooperation in that area.”
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