Ponsonby Rd to recovery

Paul Williams didn't need to hear it from the medics. He knew the instant he found himself face down on the Carisbrook turf that his leg was broken.

The first clue was that both the fibula and tibia had broken with a snap. The second, perhaps bigger giveaway, was the agony.

What the then Highlanders fullback didn't know back on April 3, 2003 was that he would spend the next 22 months on the sideline, much of it on crutches.

And when he wasn't hobbling around, he was back under the knife, with his right leg requiring two further operations after it was initially set.

"It has been a frustrating two years," he says. "It has been different to how I had envisioned my life. I went back to study accountancy. In all the career planning and different seminars we get put through, they always talk about how you could get injured and how you could get put out of rugby. I learned how real that risk is."

Williams is a lesson to all young players who throw themselves headlong into battle certain they are bulletproof.

His injury was sustained against the Blues in what appeared to be an innocuous tackle. But his lower leg had taken the full brunt of the hit and couldn't cope.

If it had been sustained in his upper leg, there would have been no problems. As the son of the legendary Beegee, Williams has his lineage to thank for a quite splendid pair of thighs.

He has his genes to thank, too, for gifting him an astute rugby brain and that innate ability to beat a man with the grace of a Rolls-Royce and speed of a Ferrari.

So much time has passed since he last played, it's easy to forget it only took a few Super 12 games for Williams to look very much at home.

Many young backs in New Zealand burst onto the scene then fade just as quickly when opposition defences suss them out.

Williams, though, is not a one-trick pony which is why there will be no shortage of interested parties when he makes his comeback.

There is no date pencilled in for the grand return. Although not, for once, because of any lingering doubts about his fitness. He has been training with the Blues for eight weeks and is about a week away from being declared fit for full service.

His problem is that as part of the Blues extended squad he will feature in the Super 12 only if someone else should be struck down by injury. That's why he is targeting club rugby.

"Club rugby has always been my aim since my last operation in August. This development stuff came along and it was an opportunity to get involved with the Blues medical team and physios and let them help me through it.

"I want to try to win another Gallaher Shield with Ponsonby and then hopefully win a place in the NPC. If I can do that then my ambition is to win a Super 12 contract at the end of the year."

He's been there before, of course, but a return to Super 12 could be a huge ask for the 21-year-old. His injury was serious and so many before him have returned from a broken leg without the same pace or agility.

There was even talk, when he was named in the Highlanders squad last year only to be withdrawn on the eve of the competition, that he would never return.

Those doubts have never plagued Williams. He's always believed he would recover and still believes he can return the same player he was when he was struck down at Carisbrook.

"The medics were always confident in my recovery. They could see no reason why it shouldn't heal. I'm hoping to pick off where I left off. There is no reason why not.

"There hasn't really been too much concern why I can't get back to 100 per cent. I know that will take a while. A bit of speed work, a bit of strength work.

"I'm refreshed and I can't complain about having played too much rugby."

Williams is not complaining about anything at all and it is that strength of character that makes him a good bet to achieve everything he wants.

PAUL WILLIAMS
Born: 22 April 1983
Position: Fullback
Height: 1.88m
Weight: 99kg
Super 12 caps: 6
Points: 5 (1 try)
Club: Ponsonby


- Herald on Sunday