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'I hated the Welsh team, everything associated with it and Steve Hansen with a passion'
In a new three-part documentary Wales legend Shane Williams has revealed that at one time he “hated Welsh rugby and head coach Steve Hansen with a passion.”
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Viewers of ‘Slammed’ which is being screened nightly on BBC Wales from this evening, will see Williams explain how Hansen’s arrival derailed his Test career.
When the Kiwi took over from Graham Henry in 2002 Williams had scored 10 tries in his first 10 Tests but Hansen had concerns over the winger’s size and therefore refused to select him in the early days of his reign.
Williams told the documentary makers: “I remember one of my first meetings with Steve when the conversation was basically: ‘You’re not big enough, you’re not physical enough, your defence isn’t quite good enough and I’m not going to select you in this Welsh team.’
“My heart just sank. I thought I was doing alright and you’re taking this dream away from me. You’ve come over from New Zealand and taken this dream away from me, how dare you.”
Williams goes on to explain how this affected his attitude towards his country’s national team over the period in 2003 when he was outside the squad.
“I was watching the Six Nations, Wales weren’t doing particularly well and I was quite happy,” he admits.
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“I hated the Welsh team, hated everything associated with it, hated Steve Hansen with a passion.
“I went through a slump when Steve dropped me from the team. I was taking creatine, spending more time in the gym, working on my guns and everything else instead of working on my speed.
“I put on a stone of weight in a few weeks and it just didn’t work. Yes, I was more muscular but my pace had slowed, I was getting injuries and I was missing games.
“It was just a vicious circle. It was a horrible time in my life, the worst two years in my rugby life, for sure.
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“One day it just clicked. Stop thinking about Steve Hansen, stop worrying about what he has said. Work on your speed, your fitness and let’s go.”
"By contrast, in France there is no shortcut to the top for ex-pros – given the notoriously physical nature of club rugby having a ref with under-developed management skills is not a risk worth taking" 🟥 🟨#refereeing https://t.co/nS0FMVhxmG
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 3, 2022
And after losing ten consecutive matches, Hansen made changes among which Williams returned to the squad ahead of the 2003 World Cup.
After a spell on the fringes his chance eventually came when Wales fielded a weakened side in their final pool stage match against the All Blacks having already secured a place in the knock-out stages.
Wales lost the match but their four tries in a 53-37 defeat included a Williams touchdown and from there he went on to earn 87 Wales caps and four Lions appearances during a glittering career that included 60 Test tries.
Comments on RugbyPass
More useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
22 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
1 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
21 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
1 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
13 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
21 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
13 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
22 Go to commentsVern challenging this Blues side might be the edge they need to fulfill their potential. Convincing results from strong D and strong carries are hard to argue against.
1 Go to commentsLove seems to add a strong back field defense with speed to close the gap and tackle to his ability to attack, kick and pass (an accurate long pass). This sets him an edge over some of the other names - JRK in particular. Has to be said that Jordan and Stevenson have also been exposed defensively while Love has yet to face test match intensity. Spoilt for choice.
1 Go to commentsHe’s strung together a few strong seasons, I’d like to see him in the ABs and build some depth along with Reiko and ALB. Levi Aumua hasn’t taken the step we hoped to see but time yet.
2 Go to commentsWhere has our good friend Pecos gone!? Similar place to the Crusaders D, the abyss.
4 Go to commentsNice piece Nick. I haven’t seen much of the brumbies this year so will keep my powder dry on charlie, but clearly has the speed and footwork to be damaging in space. Similar to Samu, I’d worry about the size of our pack if the likes of Mcreight and Cale were in the b/row together. Maybe Cale could play a similar finisher role like Samu did for Rennie’s wallabies. Has Cale leapfrogged wilson in your eyes? He obviously has the lineout, but harry probably better (although not great) in the physical stuff and also has great hands in the loose. You’d have to say mcreight and valetini are shoe-ins at 7/8, so the question becomes who matches best with them at 6 and on the bench. I don’t know if he has a high enough ceiling, but id love to see wright given a shot based on how much bad luck he has had with injuries. He may also fit that no-nonsense graft/work rate irish approach…? If schmidt wants size and a 4/6 tweener then I’d probably pick Uru. On the bench I’d have no idea, Wilson if you want to give valetini a rest, and maybe hanigan/wright/uru as 6 replacements.
21 Go to commentsWho the heck is Billy Fulton?
13 Go to commentsCale has all the potential no doubt. So has Harry Wilson except for his dumb arse coach over the last few years who told him just to run at brick walls all the time. Valentini would be devastating at 6. As he was until some idiot thought oh yeah, move our best player to another position. Not mentioning any flightless or thank you names of course. I very much dislike claiming one player is the saviour, because injuries are so prevalent in the game these days as the players are bigger and faster, so the discussion should be who are at least the best two players in one position. For me it’s Harry Wilson and Cale at 8 at the moment with Valentini or Hooper from the Brumbies at 6. Great options. Seru Uru should be in the reserves too. A game changer.
21 Go to commentsScott Barrett is a card waiting to happen, Cane has been out with injury as well as playing in Japan, I think they’ll go with in-Japan-but-still-the-man Savea. Samisoni Taukeaho will be Captain after 2027, so he might get some Captain minutes against an Italy or Japan.
13 Go to commentsDissapointed that after 7 years Crusaders could not have found a coach that believed their system and improved on it. What was he expecting?
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