Ali Williams: Five of the best locks I've played against
Former All Blacks lock Ali Williams discusses five of the best locks he’s played both with and against in his exclusive RugbyPass column.
Nathan Sharpe – Australia
I played Nathan several times in both Super Rugby and during internationals.
On the field, he didn’t look like a lot but he was a great player. He didn’t look like he could carry the ball very well but he was deceptively good at it and kept his feet.
In the lineout he was just a genius. He understood what you were trying to do, and he eventually tried to crack you. There was a lot of mental games that went on with him.
First and foremost, he was a leader. He led that team around by his actions. With leaders, you’ve got to combat them and make them focus on themselves so that they can’t have as much impact or influence on the rest of their team.
Leaders can lead in two ways, they lead by voice or they lead by actions. Nathan was definitely a man of action, so you had to take away the example he was setting.
You play against these guys so often, you get to know them off the field. Sharpey was a great man off the field. He was quick to move on from the game. We’d always have a casual beer after the match and talk about, not just rugby, but life after, life during, family and things like that.
I think there was a great connection there.
Patricio Albacete – Argentina
He was one of those lads where you just know when he’s hit you. He was very direct.
Patricio was great in the ruck with no cameras around him. You always knew that he was around because you had sore ribs.
He’s also far better looking than me, so that’s why I had to win on the field because off the field I’m sure he was streaks ahead of me in terms of getting free beers and the like.
He has a great sense of humour. A lot of the South Americans do. They enjoy life, they enjoy great food. It’s not just about the game, it’s also about the week.
When you play against guys like Patricio quite often, you understand what they’re like. Off the field, I can recall one night when we were all a bit lost in Buenos Aires. I remember Patricio saying “Hey, I’ve got this lads, follow me.” He took us to an outstanding nightclub and we all thought, “Whoa, we’ll hang out with this guy a lot more.”
So off the field, his leadership was insane.
Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield – South Africa
Now we get to my mates in South Africa. I can’t just say that there was one of them, I think that both Bakkies and Victor had a pretty unique impact in my career.
Bakkies and Victor played so closely together. Bakkies was great because he always talked in the third person. He would take you out, put you in a headlock, smash you off the ball, make a high tackle, whatever it was, and then you’d hit him up after the game.
“Bakkies mate, that was not called for eh, you didn’t have to whack me like that,” you’d say. “Bakkies didn’t do that” was the response. You would follow up with “I’m pretty sure it was you, mate,” and he would stonewall you again with “Bakkies doesn’t do that”.
The other thing that people may not know about Bakkies is that he’s always one to kiss. He loves air-kisses. He’ll look at you from the opposite side of the scrum and blow you a big kiss, you’d look at this 2.02m big giant – and he’s no oil painting, that’s for sure – kissing you.
It was a scary sight in itself. Especially before a scrum, normally it would mess with your head.
Bakkies didn’t show his face after hours too often – that wasn’t his thing – which is part of what made him and Victor such a great partnership.
On the field, Victor was an astute man of the lineout, understood it, great around the field in terms of running the ball and understanding what he needed to do. He was another excellent leader.
He was just as magical off the field. I don’t think there were many Tests where Victor and I didn’t go and have a few beers after the game and go out together. We became really great mates off the field. We really challenged each other and looked at the game in the same light.
Brad Thorn – New Zealand
How many things do we need to say about Brad Thorn. He’s a great man.
The first story that comes to mind, and one that sums up Brad’s style, took place against South Africa in Wellington.
I think the whistle had already blown, he screamed into a ruck and ended up with John Smit on his shoulders. He just picked him up and threw him to the ground. I remember saying “Thornie what are you doing that for?” and he said “He jumped on my shoulders, I didn’t put him there”.
He was of that simple mentality, “we’ve got to hurt them before they hurt us”. His presence was constantly felt by both the opposition and his own teammates. You would be in a ruck and think you’ve won it before something barrelled into you – it would be your own teammate screaming out “let’s go boys, let’s go!”. We all got used to Thornie’s big claps and air punches, it was just priceless.
For me personally, partnering with Brad was one of the best combinations I was a part of. He knew his role and played it very well. Our styles didn’t necessarily cross-over but we mutually respected each others’ skill sets.
While he never dared to put a kick in – I think he would be ashamed of himself if he kicked the ball – he was in fact a great kicker of the rugby ball. Because he used to play Australian Rules, he could really kick a ball, but he would never do it on the rugby field because he didn’t want to ruin his brand of “Big Bad Brad”.
I remember my first encounter with Brad. He came off the bench for Canterbury in 2001, I believe, just before he made the All Blacks. I vividly remember the first time we gave him a kickoff. As soon as he got up there to receive, he couldn’t catch a thing. That became our thing, once we played together he said “look mate, you just make sure you catch the kickoff, I’ll do everything else.” My days as a goalkeeper definitely helped in that regard. Towards the end of Brad’s career he obviously got quite good in that area as well.
Off the field, Brad was great. Pre-match we would always sit together and chew the fat. We would sit, we would laugh and we would talk, and you just couldn’t believe that this was the guy who was going to run out and be the enforcer and aggressor that he was.
He’s a very relaxed human being, a big gentle giant. A great family man, and you knew that when he was speaking to you, it was coming from the heart.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
Should've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
19 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
90 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
4 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to comments