Ali Williams: Time for new All Blacks to make their mark
In his first exclusive column for RugbyPass, Ali Williams recalls the first time he was named an All Black and offers congratulations to the new recruits.
Being named an All Black is a special moment and it affects everyone that has been involved in your rugby career.
I started playing rugby at 16, and everyone around me got invested once I decided to turn my attention towards the sport. When I was first named an All Black I’d only been playing professional rugby for about two years, and when you’re first named everyone who had helped you reach that point are the first ones there to congratulate you. Your 1st XV coaches ring you, your headmaster, your first senior coach, your provincial coach, family and friends. All these people ring you, and it’s a reward for what they’ve done as part of your career.
Leading up to the team being named, there’s all the media and the hype and the speculation but when you’re actually in it, you don’t even look at it. Everyone else looks at it and then tells you about it.
Everyone wants to be named, it’s quite clear, so when it does happen it can come as a major surprise, especially in my case.
I was 20 years old, I’d only played one year of Super Rugby and one year of provincial rugby. At the end of my first year of NPC in 2001, I’d heard rumblings of ‘oh he could be a bolter, he could do this’. My first thought was ‘that’s unrealistic’.
I didn’t make it in that year, they picked some guy named Chris Jack, but the following year I had a good Super Rugby season – I played a little bit but I wasn’t a main starter – and I won the NPC with Auckland. We had a big after-party on Waiheke Island. I’d snuck off to the Portaloo – that’s how we do it in New Zealand, we don’t have proper toilets sometimes – came back and the team for the All Blacks’ End of Year tour had been named.
There were your regulars, or your guys that were ‘shoulder-tapped’. Before, you didn’t get shoulder-tapped or you didn’t have the communication with the All Black coaches, whereas now it’s a lot more obvious that coaches are looking at you when you’re called in for a camp in the middle of the season. These guys have had about three camps this year – foundation days – so you can get in and around the environment. Back then we didn’t have that.
So, my name gets called out while I’m on the Portaloo, then I came out and all the guys were giving me a bit of grief, ‘Oh yeah, you’re in the All Blacks,’ you think it’s all just tongue-in-cheek. Reality only set in when my coach, Wayne Pivac, came up to me and said ‘Look mate, genuinely, you’re in there, you’ve got to assemble tomorrow’. A few weeks later I made my test debut against England.
Being named will always remain very special for a lot of people. It doesn’t matter if it’s your first naming or your tenth. We would still text each other – Richie, Dan, myself, Andrew Hore, Tony Woodcock, Keven Mealamu – we’d just text each other a ‘well done mate’.
There was still that real sense of ‘I’ve made it’, because within the team we created an attitude that nothing was given, and you can’t take anything for granted. The coaches would reiterate that.
After being named there would be some very happy families, happy kids, all happy for these men that have put in the hard work. At the end of the day only they know what they’ve put in. Jordan Taufua is a prime example. He’s been there or thereabouts for probably five or six years now. A guy that’s put his body on the line, mentally invested into going somewhere with rugby.
I’ve played with the kid and he is very energetic. He physically wanted to dominate. Someone like that would just be over the moon, and now it gets even more exciting as he looks towards the challenges ahead of him and gets his opportunity to show what he can do at the next level.
As for Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, he has done very well in being named. I actually met one of his cousins and they were having a big congratulations ceremony, so you could see the cultural aspect coming into it there.
It’s still a very sacred moment for a lot of people, new and seasoned All Blacks so congratulations to all of them. They’re part of the club now.
As I say, sometimes the easy part is getting in, the hard part is doing something when you’re in there. There’s no point in just wearing the jersey, you’ve got to leave it in a better state than when you received it. The challenge is there, this new group is taking it further than we did, constantly evolving, and I’m excited to see what the three new All Blacks can add to the team.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould'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.
27 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.
27 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?
11 Go to comments