Rugby: Williams' grim odyssey

It's taken six years for Paul Williams to make it into the Blues' squad. Photo / Getty Images

Paul Williams' path to the Blues' fullback jersey wasn't the one he, or anyone for that matter, expected he would take.

The son of All Blacks and Auckland great Bryan (Bee Gee) Williams, he spent his junior years on the fast track to rugby's upper echelons.

In 2002, Williams, an 18-year-old in just his second year out of school, was already a standout member of Auckland's development team.

When he was drafted into the Highlanders for the following season, it was no doubt viewed as just another step in his rapid development. Instead, it turned out to be the start of a long and pain-filled odyssey, a journey filled with no shortage of false starts and false hopes.

It would take six years for the now 25-year-old to finally make it into Blues colours.

As so often seems to be the circular way with these things, it was an outing against the Blues that sent his career tumbling unceremoniously off the fast track.

Carisbrook's House of Pain moniker might invoke chuckles these days, but for Williams, for whom the date April 4, 2003 is burned into the memory, the name will always ring true.

An innocuous tackle from Mils Muliaina left him writhing in pain during the seventh-round Super 12 match, but there was nothing routine about the injury Williams suffered - a double compound fracture left his tibia and fibula protruding through his skin.

"You get tackled thousands of times, and this particular time it just happened to give way," Williams recalled as he prepared to take on the Lions tomorrow night.

Even such a gruesome injury shouldn't have sidelined him for more than a year. But 12 months later the leg was rebroken so more rods could be inserted. Still it refused to heal. Eventually, an infection that Williams believes was a result of the original wound not being cleaned properly, was fingered as the source of the problem. A two-week intravenous course of antibiotics finally did the trick.



In 2006 his place went to none other than Richard Kahui. Williams, meanwhile, concentrated on his studies, completing a business degree at AUT majoring in accounting.

"It ended up being three years before I was able to play again. By the end of that period Auckland hadn't seen much of a return on my contract so I was on the look out for [another team]. Canterbury came along and were really enthusiastic about getting me down there, so I signed a three-year deal with them."

He returned midway through the 2006 NPC season and did enough to earn a Super 14 spot with the Crusaders. More frustration, however, was to follow, with Williams not seeing a single minute of game time during the entire campaign. Not that he was bitter.

"Looking back now, I know I wasn't ready physically or psychologically for much game time," he admits.

Last year it was back to the Highlanders, where he turned in some sparkling performances in what was an otherwise forgettable campaign.

His reward was selection in an All Blacks wider training group and, although he missed the final cut for the Tri-Nations, he did go on to pick up the Air New Zealand Cup title as Canterbury's vice-captain.

Now finally back at the Blues and presumably still on the cusp of higher honours, Williams understandably doesn't take his position for granted.

"I appreciate the special lifestyle rugby players have and the opportunities it presents. I also have a greater understanding of the players that do get injured and have those sort of hardships.

"It is a nice perspective to have and I am appreciating my rugby."

That appreciation, though, must have been sorely tested at times this season. Although enjoying being back with his home-town team, Williams now finds himself in the somewhat unenviable position of the last line of defence in the worst defensive team in Super Rugby.

It's certainly a far cry from his time with Canterbury, where both the NPC team the Crusaders are built on stoic, near-impenetrable defence.

The continuity of selection and coaching is a key factor in the Canterbury sides' defensive success, something the Blues were trying to replicate, Williams said.

Plenty of training time was being devoted to honing combinations and systems and to sharpening individual skills.

"It's something everyone learns as a kid, but every week it pays to remind yourself and your body how to do those micro-skills.

"Slightly less obvious is making the most of your attacking game. If you are playing well and not turning the ball over, particularly in stressful situations, the opposition can't exactly run through you and score tries."

Poor defence is often seen as symptomatic of a poor attitude, but it would be hard to fault the Blues' effort levels. Williams, though, accepts there needs to be an improvement across the board.

"With poor results it's often hard to pinpoint exactly want went wrong and what you could have done better.

"But attitude is something we are focusing on and are looking to bring [tomorrow night]."