Shane Williams

Shane Mark Williams, (born 26 February 1977) is a Welsh former rugby union player most famous for his long and successful tenure as a wing for the Ospreys and the Wales national team.

He also played scrum-half on occasion.

Williams is the record try scorer for Wales, and is fourth on the international list of leading rugby union test try scorers behind Daisuke Ohata, Bryan Habana and David Campese.

This included one in the 78th minute to give Dan Biggar what proved to be the winning conversion.

Williams planned to retire from rugby and join Ospreys' backroom staff, but received an offer to play one season in Japan with Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars, in the second division of the Japanese league system.

The Ospreys gave him their blessing for the move, and he took up his staff role with that club upon the expiry of his Japanese contract.

Williams was awarded his first cap for Wales by Graham Henry as a replacement against France in the 2000 Six Nations season, he was three weeks short of his 23rd birthday and weighed a little over 11 stone.

He scored in his first full start for Wales with a try against Italy in the same Six Nations tournament and went on to score a total of 60 international tries (58 for Wales, 2 for the British & Irish Lions).

Williams is also Wales' record try scorer in Six Nations Championships with 22 and Wales' record try scorer in Rugby World Cups with 10.

In addition, he has scored six tries for the Lions in tour games, five of which were in one game.

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.

He was taken to the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia as a third choice scrum half.

He was selected in the final group game against New Zealand as Wales made numerous changes to their starting fifteen.

It was in this game and the following against England that he really showed his world class potential and ensured that he would be a first choice winger for Wales from this point onwards.

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 & Irish Lions for their 2005 New Zealand tour.

In 2008, Williams was selected as the World Rugby Player of the Year, then known as the IRB Player of the Year.

Since his retirement from international rugby in 2012, Williams has worked as a presenter on S4C's Six Nations rugby programme Y Clwb Rygbi Rhyngwladol, and as a pundit on BBC, ITV and Channel 4 broadcasts as well as third party shows such as "Inside Welsh Rugby", commenting on the grassroots of Welsh rugby.

Williams was selected to the Barbarians squad that played Wales in June 2012.

It was originally planned to be his last appearance as a player, but he shortly thereafter signed a one-year contract to play in Japan with Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars in June 2012.

Williams was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to rugby.

Williams extended his stay in Japan several times, taking on a role as player-coach and turning down an offer from French Top 14 side Toulon in the process.

He officially retired from playing at the end of the 2013/14 season, although he returned to play for his home village club, Amman United during the 2016 – 2017 season, including a try-scoring appearance in the 2017 WRU Bowl final at the Millennium Stadium.

He now works as a commentator and pundit.

Before finally announcing he would be returning home at the end of the 2014–15 Japanese Top League season.

In November 2016, Williams was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame during opening ceremonies for the Hall's first physical home in Rugby, Warwickshire.

Williams was born in Morriston in 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 (now Ysgol Dyffryn Aman).

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 82 points, with Williams scoring five tries.

Williams started his junior career as a scrum-half at Amman United 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.

In his final Ospreys match at the Liberty Stadium he finished his career there in a similar style as he did with Wales scoring a try past the 80-minute mark and converted his own try for his final bow at the Liberty.

Williams then, in his last game of professional club rugby, scored 2 tries for the Ospreys in the PRO12 final 30–31 win against Leinster.