PARIS – In another world, Tamaiti Williams would be back in Australia with the rest of the Wallabies.
Instead, the 23-year-old, who lived in Perth until he was 16, looks likely to be presented with one of rugby’s greatest challenges: stopping the Springboks’ “bomb squad” in a World Cup final.
Born in Whangārei, Williams’ family moved to Perth when he was just three months.
There he went to “four or five high schools”, as his parents, Johnny and Natalie, would get on the road and pick up jobs in the Wheatbelt.
In between, he would play rugby union on Saturdays and league on Sundays. On his father’s request, so to improve his tackling.
“I was a bit scared in the younger grades,” Williams said.
He stayed until he was 16, before his father’s vision of him developing into an All Blacks star saw the family return to New Zealand’s north.
“It [Perth] holds a massive place in my heart,” Williams said, speaking at the All Blacks’ camp in west Paris.
“I came through the schooling system and the Force representative teams. I love that place. I didn’t actually want to leave, but my parents had a vision that I couldn’t see.
“But I’ve got a lot of family in Australia. I try to get back there as much as I can. I went there last year for my uncle’s 30th. I saw school mates, cousins, aunties, uncles. It holds a special place in my heart. I also say I’m from Perth.”
It was only on Sunday that Williams took a moment to reflect on his whirlwind year.
After being on the fringes of the Crusaders for the past couple of seasons, Williams had the training wheels ripped off after several injuries saw the rising prop thrown in the deep end.
All along, one piece of advice stood out.
“One that stood out for me this year was in pre-season when the All Blacks came back and I remember Sam Whitelock saying to me, ‘You just have to get one per cent better every day.’ That’s the mindset I’ve taken on board,” Williams said.
“You take the learnings from yesterday and move on to today.”
Tamaiti Williams credits some advice from Sam Whitelock (L) from helping drive his year to the World Cup final. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
It led to him playing 15 matches for the Crusaders in 2023, 14 in the No.1 jersey.
Then, a prized first cap against the Springboks at Mt Smart Stadium, before taking on the Wallabies in the Bledisloe Cup.
World Cup selection followed, including a place on the bench against Los Pumas in last weekend’s huge 44-6 semi-final thrashing.
“It has been crazy,” Williams reflected.
“I went out for brunch with my mum and my fiancée yesterday and I sat back and thought, ‘Damn, how long has this year been? But we’re probably in the most important week of the year now.’ I’ll leave the reflections for Sunday.”
More pressing is stopping the Springboks on Saturday (Sunday, 6am AEDT), with a prized fourth Webb Ellis Cup on the line.
As Ian Foster munched away on his popcorn to watch the Springboks overrun England in a dramatic 16-15 great escape, the Boks’ much-vaunted scrum came to the fore again.
In particular, replacement loose-head prop Ox Nche turned England inside out. It caught everyone’s attention.
“He’s tough, bro,” Williams casually said. “I just look at how tough he is. He’s a great prop.”
A freak of nature?
“There’s a lot of freaks of nature at this Rugby World Cup, there’s one right next to me (Samisoni Taukei’aho),” Williams said drily. “He does his job well.”
Captain Sam Cane (L) and Tamaiti Williams hold the Freedom Cup after defeating the Springboks at Mt Smart Stadium on July 15, 2023 in Auckland. (Photo by Dave Rowland/Getty Images)
Williams, should he be selected, will be tasked with stopping the Springboks’ imposing scrum that makes up a crucial component of their so-called “bomb squad”.
“It is clear they’ve got a good bench, and they do the damage when they come on,” Williams said.
“But for us on the bench, it’s whatever the team needs us to do whether it’s energy, our voice, energy from our ball-carrying, our set-piece. There’s a lot of talk about them, but we’ve just going to focus on ourselves and make sure we are primed and make an impact.”
Williams knows first-hand the threat they pose too, having made his debut against them in July at home.
So, what is distinctive about the Springboks and how do you stop them?
“They are massive and just how clinical they are. If you give them a chance, they’ll take it,” Williams said.
“For us, it is all about being clean and you just have to match the physicality.
“Everyone knows what they are going to bring, but it’s us that has to stop them. It’s been a great learning experience playing the Springboks. We had a good win against them and we got a hiding against them as well.”
If they manage to stop the Springboks from the source, the All Blacks will be all that much closer to moving ahead of their southern hemisphere rivals by claiming their fourth Webb Ellis Cup.
Should they do that, it won’t just be New Zealand applauding – but Williams’ friends and family in Perth, too.
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
Yes but why are you limiting yourself to the minor bit? Because of your utter failure in the important bit. Why on earth would I find a one off win by one T2 team over another a worrying trend? It's great to see another emerging rugby nation. I don't have a weird complex about the opposite hemisphere, with a pathological need to make up nonsense to put it down, unlike some people...
jimmy jones
Roar Rookie
It's still reflected and part of the fabric of the team to which they contributed.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
You can't blame him for losses when he didn't play. You still didn't tell me who you think the starting 5 should be
Leachy
Roar Rookie
I don`t think many of those players will get another shot in the Wallaby jersey in coming years. Tupou and Loto will be the only ones i reckon.
Leachy
Roar Rookie
" high immigration destination which is reflected in many ways, including sports teams." Apart from outliers like Quade Pocock Will Genia and Korobiete it hasn`t helped the Wallabies become better.
Revok
Roar Rookie
William Skelton is over-rated bigtime, the Wallabies played 5 tests in Europe in 2022, they won the ones without him 2 and lost the ones with him 3. Georgia and Portugal are his only wins since he made a return after filling his pockets with euros for the last 7 years. William won`t be back, he is a mercenary.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
Never said the quarters don't matter I was specific about the group stages. I see the NH and SH being on the same level but the NH has more teams. If you don't see any worrying trend that a T2 European team beat a team that is potentially being added to T1 for the World League there is nothing I can say that would change your view. That Portugal team is built around the u20s that were the second best team in the trophy in 2017, 2018 and 2019. In 2019 and they had lost to Japan by 1pt. People talk about how great Georgia are doing but Spain and Portugal are only a few years behind them in development.
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
Beg to differ? That really is the last resort. And your assessment of whether player A will be better than player B when he's older is hardly a "measure." One system getting more players into the team of the finalist than the other gets into the team of the losing quarter finalist obviously is a measure.
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
So the World Cup knockouts don't count for anything in your head. I suppose never having won one can do that :laughing: Honestly, if your longstanding quest to argue the superiority of NH development pathways is using one of your T2 nations beating one of ours, when it was Fiji who made the quarters, you really are struggling.
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
I said 29+ games is what Curry and Itoje played at a very young age and they've paid for it. The Saffers and kiwis don't overwork their younger players to anything like the same extent. In your short termism you think it's good to play lots of rugby early but that's fool's gold. We wait until a player's ready and that pays off in the long run.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
Lets beg to differ on age grades as when will we know when a current 21 year old will be better than what is currently there or how close a person is to making the team. Is Roigard going to be better than Smith is now, will Casey be better than Murray is. I have my way of measuring it and you have yours so we will just have to wait and see. I don't think that Oz players coming in are better than the ones they are replaceing but with by far the youngest squad at the WC its hard to judge. South Africa as I think you pointed out before have 12 year cycles so they write off periods of development inorder to take a young team all the way through to old age and then start again with player 10-12 years younger skipping all the underdeveloped (at international level) players. Argentina is hard to judge, Like Italy and Georgia they have their current generation of players who have been professional since 18 (all the squad rather than some) so we will need to see if the SLAR can replicate the Jags from 2016 onwards. By an large Ireland, France, Italy, Georgia, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands would view their u23s as better players for their age then those over 30 (obvious some will be an exception like Sexton but then Crowley is 23 and was a big reason for the Munster URC win). England and probably Wales would feel that they players are about the same. Scotland (dropped out of the U20s Championship and failed to get back up this year), and Romania well feel that they over 30s were better at u23 then their current crop of players that are u23. Both have done things to address it (Scotland the Super6 and Romania the White Oaks which is kind of going back to what they did 1995-2010s when they sent one team into the Challenge Cup). Other Nations like Poland, Cech would be on the up and Germany, Ukraine on the way down (but the war might help get more expats involved in rugby).
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
In the group stages, no. France, Ireland, Wales and England had 100%. Scotland and Italy both lost to teams ranked in the top 4 but neither of them are in the top 4 so couldn’t be them. Romania were lower than all their opponents and so were Georgia and Portugal the only other European teams. Portugal failed to beat Georgia otherwise they would have been the only ones to have done it. Wales beat Fiji and Australia who were both ranked higher than Wales at the time. England beat Argentina who were ranked higher than England. Japan beat Samoa who were ranked higher than Japan at the time but I don’t count Japan as part of the Rugby NH as they are toured in the July.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
Where did you get the 29+ games from, that wasn't me. I have said that current SA players were playing lots of games at 21 while you suggest that its better to leave them till they are older which is why I have shown that SA have by far the oldest frontrow players in the matchday squad for the big games. I have used the number of games a player starts which is why I said Williams only started to games in two years of SR (2021 + 2022). Go look at all.rugby they break down playing minutes, starts, games played etc
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
So you think that a player who hadn't really played in a year and choose to not find a club when his Japanese team cancelled all their games should have been picked. Eddie told him he had to be playing during the season regularly to be picked but he choose not to. Philip was back from injury and is most used at 4. Nick Frost also plays 4 and played the two big games you lost so how do they make any difference. Do you think the fact that they had 3 players who generally play 4 and were missing Skelton who is most definitely a 5 was part of the problem.
Revok
Roar Rookie
William Skelton is a proven plodder at test level, Eddie should have known this. Eddie also picked the wrong Arnold, Australia`s best two locks are playing in Australia, Isack Rodda ( injured ) and the underused Matt Philip, Nick Frost next best. Arnold and Willaim Skelton are dead-set jokers, if they have rugby player stamped in their passports as their occupation they should be arrested for fraud. :boxing:
Jacko
Roar Rookie
The players get contracts for the next SR season NH just like most lowere level comps. Prove yourself at NPC level and you earn a SR contract. There are of course plenty of people who find NPC the top of their ability.
Jacko
Roar Rookie
No Brenden Money is the reason players choose Japan or MLR. Well mostly anyway. I think there are plenty who would also add experiences into the reason too. Im interested in studies around player game time and short or longterm benifits etc but even then its often about an individual rather than a blanket rule.
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
Minutes?! You said games! Stop moving the goal posts every time you are proven wrong!
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
I'm sure that as an Irishman you can think of at least one NH country who lost to a country ranked lower than them... But I'm not sure why you're going on about Fiji doing so much better this World Cup. It really doesn't help your persistent claim that the Southern Hemisphere is so bad for developing players. You do realise that not only did every player begin their development in the Southern Hemisphere, for the first time they have over half of their quarter final 23 currently playing Super Rugby?
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
Ok if you insist let's look at the benches. We had two players 31 and older - Coles and Whitelock. You had four - Kilcoyne, Bealham, Conan and Murray. Yet more proof that SANZAAR under 20s post 2011 developed significantly more players for the winning team's starting XV and the winning team's bench than yours did for the losing team's. Do you still harbour this fantasy that your pathways are so much better than ours?