RUGBY LIONS TOUR:NO LESS than on the pitch, Shane Williams gives the impression of someone desperately seeking the form that made him the talisman of Wales' Grand Slam and World Player of the Year, as well as the winger who revelled against South Africa here a year ago. It's clearly torturing him.
The harder he tries, the harder it seems to become for Williams to find the old spark; the pace, footwork and eye for a gap that could open up any team in the world. “I’ve found it difficult over here getting into games. I’ve played my usual stuff and I’ve only got myself to blame. I haven’t played as well as I’d have liked. But in saying that I’ve got to take the positives out of it as well. I’ve been involved quite a bit – on the bench in the second Test – and I’ve got my chance on Saturday to start a game. I’m one of these guys that takes things very personally. Because I haven’t played very well I’ve beaten myself up a little bit,” he confesses, which somehow comes as no surprise.
Saturday’s rubber may be of the Dodo variety, but the 32-year-old Welsh wing wizard is fully aware that it offers a last chance of redemption as well as a last appearance for the Lions. “There’s a lot relying on the game on Saturday as far as I’m concerned and as a side as well.”
Williams started playing in his home town primary school at eight or nine, and loved playing all sports bar cricket. “Luckily, I was just better playing at rugby than anything else. I did gymnastics more than I played rugby.
“I was good at the floor routine, back somersaults and all that. And if I did play rugby it was in the second team in school.”
Rugby eventually took hold. “Being Welsh you grow up with the legends of the ’70s and even though I didn’t know what happened in ’74 the majority of those players were Welsh and it’s still spoken about now.
“I’ve been lucky enough to do it twice and I’m very honoured.” Like so many, the 1997 tour here and the accompanying Living With Lions video were his earliest memories of the Lions in action.
“Having watched that 100 times now, you realise that’s exactly what these tours are like. It’s tough, it’s physical, you have your fun, you enjoy yourself but you’ve got a job to do and obviously it hasn’t gone the same way this time. But it hasn’t been far off.”
A bit like his own tour story. It’s not that he’s been especially bad, just that he hasn’t been very good either. There have been glimpses of the old Williams, such as the one-line break in awful conditions in the drawn match with the Emerging Springboks last Tuesday week. Williams felt he played well and consoles himself in the thought that he’s working hard and his defence is good.
He’s clearly lost confidence as much as anything, and sounds like he’s trying to convince himself as much as anyone when declaring: “I need to go into this game fully confident, 100 per cent ready, and just go out to enjoy myself and express myself. That’s when I play my best rugby really.”
In his four starts and two replacement appearances – he played almost 70 minutes against the Southern Kings – Williams has yet to score a try on tour.
“I’ve been lucky enough on tours and been prolific wherever I’ve played really. But you do hit your dry spots – even the strikers in the Premiership don’t score for a while. But I try not to dwell on it too much. There’s been a couple of incidents where I’ve dropped the ball over the line on tour, and I probably haven’t done that since I was 16 years old. That’s just the way it goes sometimes. I don’t dwell on the scoring of tries. They come provided you work hard and enjoy yourself and have a good game. That’s the only thing I work on is getting involved in games; hands on ball and just get involved in areas that you wouldn’t usually. If I play well on Saturday I’ll possibly score a try.”
Desperately seeking his old form, an early break or try wouldn’t go amiss.
