Williams: 'When the incident happened I really felt like that was my opportunity gone'

The medical team wouldn’t even allow Grant Williams to look at his phone for a week as they monitored his well-being, and how he just about managed to get back in the mix in time to make the tournament squad.

WORLD CUP DREAM: Grant Williams thought his RWC dream was over after an incident with Juan Cruz Mallia against Argentina. Pic: ©INPHO/Steve Haag Sports/Steve Haag

If the Owen Farrell saga had everyone up in arms, and the absence of any ban for Scott Barrett had us puzzled, then it was the tackle shipped by Grant Williams in Johannesburg at the end of July that set the concerning tone for rugby in the run-in to this World Cup.

The Sharks scrum-half was winning just his third Test cap in the Rugby Championship game against Argentina in Johannesburg’s Ellis Park. This was his first start in a heavily-rotated Springbok side and he was partnering Mannie Libbok for the first time.

This was his big chance. Until it wasn’t.

The game was just five seconds in when full-back Juan Cruz Mallia leapt to charge down William’s clearance from the opening kick-off and caught his opponent square in the face with his hip, and at some pace.

Referee Andrew Brace would ultimately declare that Mallia had made some contact with the ball and that the matter was a ‘rugby incident’. South Africa didn’t even get a penalty. Williams, who lay stunned and flat on the floor, was ultimately stretchered off.

Nick Mallett, the former Bok coach couldn’t believe what he had seen. What were the mitigating circumstances, he asked on TV. The rules, he explained, explained clearly that a player in that scenario had to take into account the safety of the kicker.

Mallia was subsequently given a two-week suspension for an incident that the disciplinary committee deemed to be “reckless, with a high degree of danger, and one that had considerable impact on the victim player”.

Just over five weeks later and Williams, a quietly-spoken 27-year old from Paarl, was sitting in the Springbok team hotel just days out from their World Cup opener against Scotland and declining the opportunity to give his thoughts on this light slap on the wrists.

“I don’t think I can comment on that,” he smiled.

What he did expand on was the after-effects, how the medical team wouldn’t even allow him to look at his phone for a week as they monitored his well-being, and how he just about managed to get back in the mix in time to make the tournament squad.

Make no mistake, he thought that incident had cost him his dream.

“Yes, one hundred per cent,” he explained. “If you look at it, I played the whole Championship: Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina was my first start. I really thought that I was gaining momentum and when the incident happened I really felt like that was my opportunity gone.” 

The squad announcement was just over a week down the road but Williams had done enough to squeeze in. Little did he know that Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber would name just one fly-half but open the door wider elsewhere with four No.9s among their 33-man selection.

Did he know? Seemingly not, but the coaches appear to have sat Williams, Faf De Klerk, Jaden Hendrikse and Cobus Rheinach down soon enough after to share their thoughts. Not that Williams was of a mind to repeat any of that for wider consumption.

“I actually feel I am humbled to be here. It is more, how can I put it? You can’t put it into words but when you get your game announced it is such a special feeling. And with the capping ceremony (in Toulon on Monday), it actually made me realise that I am here now.” 

Faf de Klerk will start on Sunday against Scotland but Williams will be one of just the two backs to come off the bench as the Boks opt for another 6/2 split so there will be opportunity to work on that nascent relationship with Libbok.

The out-half isn’t much more experienced than him. Neither have yet reached double digits in terms of caps and there was widespread expectation that the decision to omit Handré Pollard from the squad was just another Rassie ruse at the time. Not so.

“Mannie has been playing well: URC, Champions Cup and now international rugby,” said Williams. “Mannie has been up there and playing and training well and deserves the backing of the coaches.”