Ulster Rugby vs Munster

WILLIAMS IS IN GOOD ‘NICK’

“In most people’s eyes, perhaps, I don’t play what might be called a normal type of rugby, but it’s always been like that!”

In his mid-20s he joined Munster for a two-year spell, which yielded four typically rumbustious tries but only sporadic appearances for the that Province. In June 2012 he was approached by Ulster and he honestly believes the environment at Kingspan Stadium has allowed him to flourish. “I arrived to join a good panel of players, and I think the coaches and my new team-mates took time to adapt to me as a person and my style of play, there were some teething problems, but I was always very happy to be part of the project. “And there have been ‘ups’, and there have been some ‘downs’, and you learn from those. This is a squad which really deserves and should win management at Ulster, but Less Kiss joining us has been like a breath of fresh air, something we probably needed to add a little energy to things, he says. Looking back at the calendar year Williams feels that coming up just short in the PRO12, with the incentive of a home semi-final and Final beckoning, might have been quite different if “we’d picked up another win away from home, or taken a point or two more from some games.” He was suspended for the PRO12 run-in, but he hopes he still did his ‘bit’ for the squad. “Yes, I was on the naughty step I’m afraid, and of course I regret that and it’s only human to think that on some occasions your reputation goes before you, but it is what it is. “I did all I could in the last few weeks of the season to help for those games leading to the games with Glasgow which didn’t go as we wanted, as we all know. I helped with the analysis, and was generally, I hope, the happy bloke around the dressing room. “But we didn’t get the trophy we so wanted, as a group of management and players we felt so flat, and I know the fans were really down. “But we’re midway through the season now – I always think of what we can do tomorrow, not what went wrong in the past – and we are putting the building blocks together for a team which will be successful for a long, long time. trophies in the PRO12 and in Europe. “We’ve always had good coaching and

Nick Williams’ laughing eyes help make him a compelling, easy companion, he embraces life on and off the rugby field, and meets successes and disappointments with a winning sense of balance. “I think it’s the Polynesian blood. We like to enjoy life and all it offers, and as far as I’m concerned as a professional rugby player that has got me ‘round the block’ a bit. “I was blessed with certain physical attributes I suppose, and I am so fortunate to be part of a squad to which I am committed and which affords me the opportunity to do some things which might be a little different,” he says, smiling at the unspoken understanding that those charging, one- handed carries may not strictly have been part of the game plan. “Look, I like to think that I am a good team player, and it is the team and how it plays and what it wins that we all buy into. Different players bring so many different skills and talents to this Ulster squad, and we all want each other to shine. “We are lucky in that our coaches want us to express ourselves, they don’t want us to suppress the best each of us has to offer. That doesn’t mean we don’t have strategies and planned things to do in certain situations, we certainly do, but in the heat of a game, if a chance appears to do something we’re encouraged to do that.” Williams is a storming Number 8, who, ball in one hand, the other fending off flailing, failing tacklers, can really get the Kingspan fans on their feet. “Yeah, it might look high-risk at times, and people say it gets the supporters going, but that’s not what I want, I want to see the team capitalise and get our best players on the front foot. “I don’t need to tell anyone who’s watched us over the years that sometimes it comes off, sometimes it doesn’t. But ever since I was a kid starting to play rugby I’ve always thought that the quickest way to the line is to run straight!” One of the genuine characters of the modern professional game, Nick Williams, at 32, retains the ambition and fire which made him a Junior All Black, ‘capped’ by the New Zealand Under 21 side, and a dynamic figure in the colours of North Harbour and the Blues.

NICK WILLIAMS

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