KEY POINTS:
The mischievous, towering lock, in his first, extensive post-World Cup interview, confesses: "I normally watch every game but I haven't watched that game. I don't know about it being too hard. I watched the semi final in 2003 and we lost. I probably will watch it - one
day..."
Ali Williams, our best-performed World Cup All Black, says he has no regrets. "I'm quite content with how I went. I think everyone gave their all but some things didn't come off. It obviously wasn't the perfect team and strategy, but we honestly believed playing rugby would win."
Looking relaxed and feeling cheeky, Williams says since returning from Europe he's been "chilling, feeling no pressure. Basically I went to Rarotonga, then I came back and went fishing, hung out with my mates, had a few beers and did some work for Kids Can charity".
And such is the power of the All Blacks brand, he's even managed to release, in high summer, a soup cookbook and have it sell out, he claims, with a second printing pending. And, he acknowledges, he can't even cook.
But back to that loss.
"It just wasn't to be, it wasn't our day. It wasn't like previous World Cups where we put in a bad performance. We lost because the French got more points. In the past we'd have won that game if we weren't under the pressures of the World Cup in terms of our game plan. It's always come through in getting last-minute tries but on that occasion it didn't happen. I don't think anyone would change anything..."
Except perhaps the referee: "I have suspicions why he missed so many incidents. I don't think he was that experienced and there's no accountability at the moment, but the game's always evolving."
And Dan Carter and Richie McCaw?
"The two of them are good now. Those guys had a lot of pressure on, more so than a lot of us. People expected not just good things, not just great things but super human things but realistically they're two farm boys, 'Dan and Richie', who have great hearts and basically love what they do. They're human, trust me."
McCaw, a good Williams mate, took the loss particularly hard, he says. "I saw him last weekend. We've talked about the loss, but I think it's a male thing to talk about it once then move on."
THE MUCH criticised rotation was a total team decision, Williams suggests: "It wasn't one man's decision. I thought it was great for the team. We lost two first fives in one game and still had someone else that was world class."
Strategically, Williams believes the lineouts could have been changed. "But I'm not a person that says my bit after the event - that's just cheap."
Ever the diplomat, he says he's happy to serve either of the two All Blacks' coach contenders.
"Henry's faithful, the real deal and not just a flash in the pan. He's supported me in times of need, he's turned good players into great players. He actually listens and I think he's still got a lot to offer New Zealand Rugby and if we cut him now we could regret it.
"I totally back Robbie Deans too. He's taken me under his wing. This year when I was looking for a team he wasn't in my face, wasn't demanding. He said 'I support you as a player and a person'.
"I'm not taking sides here. If Robbie's in I'm completely in with Robbie, but if Graham and the boys are in I'm completely behind them."
Williams vigorously denies he was in need of counselling after the World Cup debacle. "[Gilbert] Enoka wrote down things that could help us and we could act on it as much as we wanted to act on it. That's the beauty of this team. They don't force you to do anything.
"Personally, I don't need counselling. I'm human. I do make mistakes... I f**k up and there are definitely things in my life I would change, but things often happen for a reason."
Williams says that after the Cardiff game the team just sat around the team room - "around people who were feeling the same. No, we didn't want to go out but we ended up having a good time actually. No one got drunk."
SPEAKING OF the demon drink, asked if he thinks he has an alcohol problem, Williams laughs: "No. I may push the boundaries but I don't intentionally break the rules."
On his May 2007 early send-home from the Blues South Africa tour, he remains enigmatic: "To this day I'm not completely sure why I was sent home. I was having a few beers with my mates on my birthday. I never harassed Nucifora, but I am known for my phone calls when I'm drunk. I like to call coaches just to say 'Hello, how are you?'
"Nucifora didn't think I was fitting in and I wasn't best for the team."
Williams does reveal that if he'd known Nucifora had taken the Australian job - "I would have stayed with the Blues.
"He was very structured, he believes in his way. We had times where we got on but I think in that instance it didn't work and now it's all been publicly blown out of proportion. I didn't apologise to him and he didn't apologise to me, but I did apologise to the team for not being there, for not supporting them in the semi-final. That's my only regret that I wasn't there to help them."
Williams admits he sometimes grapples with the public's expectations of professional players: "We're [considered] public property. I think the pressure is a privilege, but we do get people on the street saying, 'You suck'. And in the pubs, when the boys have a bit of dutch courage, they get up and say 'you should've done this or that'. You have to just accept it and walk away. There are all sorts of people who want to fight, but you have to accept if you do something stupid you have to live with your actions.
"For me there's extra pressure [now]. Everyone watches, everyone's waiting for me to screw up again. I can't hide, everyone knows what I'm doing, when I'm drinking, how much I'm drinking. But I still try and have a normal life. I have a great family, great people around me, great mates."
Signing with the Crusaders, says Williams, gives him another oppor-tunity to enhance his life. "There were a lot of offers to go over-seas, for heaps of money, but I still wanted to give to New Zealand. My drive is not money, my drive is quality of life."
And what of future plans with girl-friend Casey Green?
"She's part of my life, I love her. But that's my private life."
Marriage, babies?
"Next question."
And, finally, will he be appearing anytime soon on Dancing With The Stars, having been seen recently dancing into the early hours with Gilda Kirk-patrick at Pony Club?
"No way. I can't dance. I dance like a swaying tree."
