Shane Williams
Personal information
Full name	Shane Mark Williams
Date of birth	26 February 1977 (1977-02-26) (age 32)
Place of birth	Morriston, Swansea, Wales
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	80 kg (12 st 8 lb)
School	Amman Valley School
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Wing Scrum-half
Amateur clubs
	Amman United
Professional clubs		Caps	(points)
1998-2003 2003-	Neath Ospreys	? 81	(?) (198)
correct as of 02:14, 14 February 2009 (UTC).
National team(s)
2000- 2005, 2009	Wales British and Irish Lions	68 4	(240) (10)
correct as of 22:14, 21 March 2009 (UTC).

Shane Mark Williams (born 26 February 1977) is a Welsh rugby union player who plays as a wing for the Ospreys and Wales, and who can also play scrum-half.^[1] Williams is notable for his well-known side-step, acceleration and his ability to find open space through opposition defence. Shane has been described as one of the most exciting wingers in the world.^[2] Williams is currently third on the international all-time Test try scoring list.

In 2008, Williams was selected as the IRB International Player of the Year.^[3]

[edit] Early life

Williams was born in Morriston, near Swansea, but grew up in Glanamman in the Amman Valley. He picked up his first rugby ball while still in primary school, and was always small for his age, even going into secondary school at Amman Valley Comprehensive School. Told that he was too small to play rugby, Williams took up football instead, playing for Cwmamman United A.F.C.; in his first appearance for the club's junior team, Williams had to play in goal as no one else would volunteer to take the position. Williams' former junior football coach, Alun Rees, remembers him as a "superb goalkeeper", but notes that he could also play outfield. Williams played for Cwmamman United up to the senior level, while only playing rugby sporadically, and admits that, at the time, football was "[his] main sport". However, on the day of Cwmamman United's cup final, Williams was invited to play rugby with his friends at Amman United RFC; Amman United ended up winning by around 80 points, with Williams scoring five tries.

[edit] Club career

Williams started his junior career as a scrum-half at Amman United but, despite having been a fan of Llanelli RFC growing up, he joined Neath as a second-choice scrum-half. However, it became apparent to Lyn Jones, Neath's then-coach, that Williams simply could not be left out of the side, and placed him on the right wing, opposite Delme Williams on the left. However, Delme Williams had shown a tendency not to kick and chase the ball, resulting in him and Shane swapping wings.

When it came to Williams signing his first professional contract with Neath, Amman United demanded a transfer fee for him, resulting in negotiations between the two clubs. Nevertheless, Williams eventually signed for Neath on a contract worth approximately £7,500 per annum, equivalent to his wage at the local Job Centre where he was working part-time.

[edit] International career

Williams earned his first cap from the bench against France in 1999-2000 Six Nations season, he was 22 three weeks short of his 23rd birthday, and weighed a little over 11 stones, having been deemed too small by some^[who?] to ever play international rugby. He scored in his first full start for Wales with a try against Italy in the same Six Nations tournament and has since earned 69 caps for Wales and has scored 50 tries (250 points).

He suffered a series of hamstring injuries in 2002 and did not often figure in Steve Hansen's squad. He considered quitting rugby entirely at this time^[4]

He was part of the Grand Slam-winning Wales side in the 2005 Six Nations championship, where he scored tries against Italy, Scotland, and most famously England, the try that helped them achieve a famous 11-9 victory that got their campaign underway. He was then selected to the British and Irish Lions for their 2005 New Zealand tour. On 28 June, he equalled a single-game Lions record by scoring five tries in a tour match against Manawatu.

In the summer of 2007, Williams underwent elbow and shoulder surgery and missed the tour of Australia. However, he did return in time to play the last World Cup warm up game against France.

During the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Williams earned his 50th cap against Japan. He scored two tries in that match, temporarily putting him on top of the 2007 World Cup try-scoring table with a total of five tries. The tries also put him above Ieuan Evans on the all-time Wales try scoring list, trailing only Gareth Thomas at that time. His try against France in their Six Nations decider on 15 March 2008 placed him joint eighth on the all-time Test try scoring list with Thomas, and surpassed Thomas on the all-time Wales try scoring list.

He participated in a second Grand Slam win with Wales in the 2008 Six Nations Championship, when he scored tries against Scotland (twice), Italy (twice), Ireland, and France, breaking the record on the all-time Wales try scoring list in the championship's final match against France, when he scored his 41st try for Wales. This try resulted in his father Mark Williams winning £25,000 from a £50 bet placed almost 10 years previously that he'd one day become Wales' leading try scorer.^[5] His performances in the Six Nations led to him being named the player of the tournament.

On November 23 2008, Shane became the first Welshman to be named IRB International Player of the Year, beating fellow Welshman Ryan Jones, New Zealand's Dan Carter, Scottish skipper Mike Blair, and Italy captain Sergio Parisse [4]

On December 7 2008, he won the BBC Welsh Sports Personality Of The Year, seeing off the competition of Tom James, David Roberts, Geraint Thomas and runners up Joe Calzaghe and Nicole Cooke.

In his first 2009 Six Nations game against Scotland he scored his 45th test try to take him above Jeff Wilson on the all-time leading try scorers list to sixth. During the game he received an ankle injury and was taken of the pitch. Following the injury he missed the next game against England, but would start for Wales' third game against France. ^[6] In the fourth game of the championship, Shane scored Wales' opening try against Italy to take himself to equal fifth on the all-time leading try scorers list.

On 21 April 2009, Williams was named as a member of the British and Irish Lions for the 2009 tour to South Africa. ^[7] Williams missed out on a starting place in the first two tests but was selected to play in the final test where he produced a man-of-the-match winning performance and scored 2 tries that contributed to the 28-9 victory over the Springboks. ^[8]

On 21 November 2009, Williams scored 2 tries in Wales's comfortable 33-16 win over Argentina in the Millennium Stadium, taking his international try tally to 50. ^[9]

[edit] Personal life

In August 2005, a holiday to Cyprus made the headlines when Shane Williams was erroneously held over an assault. The police lost his passport; his lawyer described the whole incident as a "total stitch-up"; and on his return to Wales, Williams suggested that he should have spent his holiday in Tenby instead.

On 23 December 2005, Williams married his childhood sweetheart Gail Branwen Lacey, whom he had met at Amman Valley school 14 years previously, at Twyn Church in Garnant. The couple's first child, Georgie, was born on 7 November, 2006.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Points record

Statistics as of May 3 2008, taken from the official sites of the Ospreys, the Welsh Rugby Union and the British & Irish LIons.

[edit] References

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7745073.stm

[edit] External links

• Shane Williams' details on the Ospreys website
• Wales profile
• Scrum.com's page
• Yahoo Sports page
• Article on Shane Williams' Wedding
• Article on Shane Williams' Daughter, Georgie.

Awards
Preceded by Bryan Habana	IRB International Player of the Year 2008	Succeeded by Richie McCaw
Preceded by Joe Calzaghe	BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year 2008	Succeeded by Ryan Giggs