There was a lot of talk about the pace of Grant Williams in comparison to that of Ulster wing Aaron Sexton when the Cell C Sharks played the third placed Vodacom United Rugby Championship team at HollywoodBets Kings Park last Saturday.
But while to the naked eye it certainly appears that Williams isn’t behind the Irishman when it comes to the sprint, and the Sharks No 9 showed a scintillating burst of pace in scoring the first try for the home team, they arrived at their strong suit on the rugby field in different ways. The 22-year-old Sexton was a track-sprinter in addition to being a rugby player growing up.
Indeed, only a few years ago, 2018 and 2019, he was the All-Ireland Schools Championship winner in both the elite sprint events, the 100 metre and 200 metre. For Williams, the pathway was different, as indeed was his pathway in comparison to most modern professional rugby players who have made it to the higher levels of the game.
“I wasn’t an elite athlete when I was young, I didn’t excel at athletics when I was at school. I developed my speed after school,” said Williams in an online press conference on Tuesday building up to Saturday’s big return clash with the rampant DHL Stormers in Cape Town.
HARD WORK ON THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED
To get to where he is, Williams did what really ambitious players have to do. He worked incredibly hard. And his speed was developed with the aid of a coach.
“I spent some time with a professional coach who helped athletes when I went home (to Paarl) earlier in my career,” he says.
“I did a lot of speed training with him over the off-season break, also lots of hill repeats and things like that. It was really intensive and it was what developed the speed I have today.”
If that appears to be a road less traveled for a speedster, there is another way that 26-year-old Williams is different to his peers. Although he went to a renowned rugby school in Paarl Gimnasium, he wasn’t on the high road pathway immediately after school that most of his contemporaries were. He wasn’t a top academy or age-group player. Instead he developed his skills at club rugby level.
PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE
It was to play club rugby for College Rovers that Williams moved from the Cape to Durban in 2017. It didn’t take him long to get noticed though - by 2018 he had done enough to earn his Super Rugby debut for the Sharks. Williams reckons that taking the long route developed a virtue that has come in useful during his long stints waiting on the sidelines at both Springbok and Sharks level, where among others he has his really good friend Jaden Hendrikse ahead of him in the scrumhalf pecking order.
“I think my route to this point has been different to most modern players. I had to play club rugby first, I had to take that pathway, so patience has been necessary for me since when I was a very young player. You know when you take the club rugby route to the top that it will take more time (than going through the academies and age-group teams).”
PHILOSOPHICAL ABOUT RWC CHANCES
It is probably for that reason that Williams is more philosophical about his chances of being a member of the Springbok Rugby World Cup squad later this year than ambitious. He should be in with a chance as he has been a member of coach Jacques Nienaber’s national squad often enough, and does have one international cap to his credit. Certainly his pace, and ability to also play wing, much like his probable opposite number on Saturday, Paul de Wet, would make him a good scrumhalf to have on the bench when the coaches opt for a six/two Bomb Squad split between backs and forwards.
But Williams is certainly not getting ahead of himself, and says that right now he wants to just establish himself at the Sharks, where he enjoys his rivalry with Hendrikse.
“I don’t feel like (because it is a World Cup year) I have a point to prove. At the moment I am just focusing my energy on the Sharks brand. Then later, if I am selected, I will enjoy it. But I am more Sharks driven at the moment. I just want to deliver top performances for my team.”
NO QUIBBLES WITH BIZARRE ULSTER TRY
That team has stumbled into a few obstacles in their path to the top seven log position they need to qualify for the Heineken Champions Cup. He was injured and watched from the stands when the Stormers hammered the Sharks in Durban three weeks ago, and had a strange day out against Ulster last week. Strange in the sense that while he was brilliant in scoring the first Sharks try, he also was the player responsible for the bizarre try scored by Ulster that effectively won them the game. It was in pausing before putting in a box kick at a loose-scrum from his own tryline that Ulster centre Stewart Moore came through and dived on the ball to score a try that had everyone confused. For his part, Williams appears to think it was a fair score.
“Once you roll the ball over the tryline there is no offside. I rolled it a bit too close and pulled it out on the line, so the Ulster player was allowed to come through and that is how they scored,” he says matter of factly.
MATTER OF FACT ABOUT TEAM’S CHANCES
He is also matter of fact though about the Sharks’ chances of what would now be considered a big upset by winning when he returns to what he still calls home for Saturday’s game.
“We’ve spoken about what went wrong (last week against Ulster) and we’ve had meetings and know what to work on,” said Williams.
“It is up to us as a group to come together. We have the belief to do it. I know we will have to be a lot better than last week, and also on the last time we played the Stormers, but we know what we need to fix. As I say, it is all about working together. Before the last Stormers game we had a few players ruled out during the week and we also know what mistakes we made in that match.
“I see rain is predicted for Saturday, I am not sure if it will coincide with the game, but we are looking forward to the game and I am looking forward to returning to the Cape to see my family. That makes it exciting. I haven’t seen my family for quite a while.”
Williams was one of the players who was missing from the Sharks’ starting line-up when the Stormers won 46-19 at the beginning of the month. Having him there, with the drive and determination that has taken him to where is, will significantly improve the Sharks’ chances of causing a major upset by beating the probably SA Shield champions on a ground where they haven’t lost in 14 months.