Welsh wizard predicts golden age
Shane Williams, hailed as a “once in a generation player” by Australia coach Robbie Deans, forecast a bright future for Wales after playing his final Test match on Saturday.
Williams’ final act in a Wales jersey was to touch down in extra time with a typically jinking try between two would-be tacklers as he extended his Welsh record to 58 tries in 87 internationals.
Unfortunately for the 34-year-old Williams, who is retiring from Tests but will continue to play for Welsh club Ospreys, it was not enough to prevent Australia winning 24-18 at the Millennium Stadium.
The Wallabies did the damage early in the second half with 21 unanswered points, scoring three converted tries while Wales were down to 14 men after fullback Leigh Halfpenny was sent to the sin-bin for tackling Australia flyhalf James O’Connor without the ball.
“Of course, there are mixed emotions,” Williams told reporters after the match. “The whole point of the game today was to win and beat Australia.
“It was nice to score a try but even better if you are winning. I couldn’t have scripted the last seconds of the game any better but it would have been nicer to have gone out in style with a win.”
A crowd of more than 61,000 assembled under the closed roof of the Millennium Stadium to witness Williams’s final match for Wales and gave him a huge roar as he ran out ahead of his team-mates before kick-off.
But that roar was surpassed by the enormous cheer that went up after Williams went outside Berrick Barnes and inside Digby Ioane for a try in the corner.
“The support this week has been unbelievable,” said Williams. “There’s no better place to play than the Millennium Stadium.
“This is where it started for me,” added Williams, who made his Wales debut in Cardiff against France in 2000.
“Because of them (the fans), I was bawling my eyes out. There’s no better way to finish.”
Although this loss, which followed Wales’s 21-18 defeat by the Wallabies in the World Cup third-place play-off in Auckland in October, left the Welsh with a poor record of just one win in 16 Tests against the Tri-Nations, Williams was confident a relatively young Wales side could face the future with confidence.
“We’ve got a great number of excellent individuals coming through,” said Williams, a member of a Welsh back division on Saturday where the next oldest player was 25-year-old centre Jamie Roberts.
“When we get them playing as a complete team, I’ve no doubt this Welsh squad can be one of the best teams in the world.”
Deans, paying tribute to Williams, said: “He’s a once in a generation player. What he’s achieved in the game, he deserves every acknowledgment going.
“It’s a nice way to finish, he’s a quality player and we wish him well,” the former All Black added.
Throughout an era of ever larger backs, let alone forwards, the 5 foot 7 inch Williams has been a standard bearer for the concept of rugby being a game for all shapes and sizes.
Wales coach Warren Gatland, asked if the game would ever see another diminutive player make such an impact at Test level, replied: “When we look at players, there are three things to be an international player that give you an advantage and you’ve got to have two of those things.
“The first one is speed, the second is skill and the third is size and that’s the way it is — you’ve got to have two of those elements.
“Shane is fast and pretty skilful,” the New Zealander added.
“If you are small, skilful and have no speed you are going to struggle.
“That’s the way the game operates. You can be big, fast and have a chance; you can be big and slow and skilful and have a chance.
“But if you are big, slow and not skilful you have no chance.”
AFP
