Patient Williams eager to make most of Munster opportunity

When you are playing second fiddle to the Ireland and Lions scrum-half and spending most, if not all, of every match on the bench, life as a professional rugby player can be more than frustrating.

To his credit, Duncan Williams has been making the best of things, working hard on the training ground and impressing more and more with every minute of game time that comes his way.

Indeed, it was his speed of thought and movement that helped him to score the game-breaking try in Munster’s recent one-point win over Ulster. While he still doesn’t know if he will be lining out against Leinster in Friday’s Guinness Pro12 game at Thomond Park, it looks pretty sure the former CBC and Cork Constitution player will start in place of the rested Conor Murray. His promotion comes on the back of a fine performance against Ulster, one that earned him praise from head coach Anthony Foley.

“The Ulster game was good and I thought I played well, but I wouldn’t think it was my best in the Munster jersey,” Williams said. “You score a try and everybody seems to think you played unbelievably well, but you may have played better in some games and not have scored at all.”

Williams has taken a degree of criticism from some quarters over the past couple of seasons but he believes he is mentally strong enough to push such negative views aside. “I just focus on my own game and in the last year, I feel I have learned to deal with that.

“I’ve always known I was a good player. Sometimes, you don’t get the opportunity to show it. When I did get the opportunities, I wasn’t always 100% fit but I’ve now done two pre-seasons together having gone through previous ones without any. Then you went into games trying to keep up with the play, not to mention passing the ball, kicking and looking for breaks. That has helped me, big time.”

The arrival on the Munster management team of an old friend and mentor, Brian Walsh, has also been of great assistance to Williams.

“I worked with him for a good few years at Cork Con, I think I went down there at 21, and his appreciation and philosophy of playing the game helped me,” he reflects. “I was playing week-in, week-out for Con, we had a great back line and good forwards in front of me and it was the most enjoyable rugby I have played. The principles are the same, going forward, quick ball and play where the space is. That’s Brian in a nutshell. Sometimes we didn’t pick the right opportunities and right time to go to the space, but it’s a good philosophy and we’re adapting to it and getting better.”

Williams, 28, stands 5 ft 9 inches and weighs 12 stone 8lbs, in other words the typical shape of a number 9 if also far removed from the modern-day preference for bigger men such as the 6 ft 2 inch, 14 stone 12 lbs Conor Murray. That means they are essentially two different types of scrum-half, with Williams more in the mould of an Eoin Reddan. He likes to snipe and dart and also use his educated left boot to put defences under further pressure with well placed box kicks.

If he does start on Friday, he appreciates his performance will be carefully scrutinised and may play an important role on his future in the Munster squad.

“We had four sin binnings in the first game against Leinster this season and they came at us strong in the end because of it,” he says.

“Around Christmas as well, it adds a bit of spice to this one and can set you up for a big year. It’s one of the big games everyone wants to be involved in. We won the last game I played against Leinster at Thomond Park, it was one of the best games I’ve been involved in and one of my most enjoyable as a Munster rugby player.”

Munster announce their side at lunchtime today and it remains to be seen whether Ian Keatley or JJ Hanrahan fills the number 10 shirt. Either way, Williams claims, is fine by him.

“There is very little difference between them, smaller than most people think”, he asserted. “I’ve probably played a bit more with JJ at A level and also a few senior games and know what a talent he is. Keats is that little bit older, I suppose a little more settled, and for me it is a joy to play inside either of them. They both help my game and make my life easier.”