LONG READ Elliot Williams: 'A few of us were a bit annoyed after the South Africa game. We want to right those wrongs.'

Keith and Sarah Williams were talented basketball players in their youth, before setting down roots in the leafy environs of Staines-upon-Thamses, but with a growing brood, there was no obvious outlet to mould them into the next LeBron James or Victor Wembanyama, so with five children climbing the walls, they agreed the next best thing would be to ferry those willing to the nearest rugby club; London Irish Amateurs.

Elliot, the second eldest, had a natural disposition for rugby and 14 years later, will be staring down the Haka tomorrow, as England U20s, look to secure a third-placed finish at the Junior World Championship.

The good news for England is, similar to the Chessums, there could be more super-sized juggernauts to add to the depth chart with Williams informing RugbyPass of some ‘big gooses’ in the pipeline. ‘My younger twin brothers (James and Zach) are 14 and both playing rugby. It’s a bit scary, because one of them is 6ft 4ins, and scheduled to be bigger than me. I’m a bit gutted I will no longer be the tallest in the house!”

This is no idle claim for Williams, who also has an elder brother Ollie, and sister Megan. He stands at 6ft 6ins and 123kgs (19st 5lbs), six weeks after turning 19. A multi-sport childhood, where he played rugby, tennis and football was refined at 13 to one sport, where despite some talent in tennis, with a ‘big serve and forehand’ he decided to put his head down and focus on rugby. A scholarship at Gordon’s School – a feeder school for Harlequins – was arranged and by U18 level, in the Prem’s Academy League, he started to make a name for himself as a powerful blindside-cum lock, once memorably bouncing Saracens wunderkind Noah Caluori on his rump after a collision.

Such prodigious size saw him fast-tracked into the injury-laden Harlequins match-day squad last season, where he turned out for the Quarters on a dozen occasions. At Twickenham for a Big Game against Bristol, he went viral in March, after commentator Austin Healey, questioned his age open-mouthed, ‘he’s not 18, I’m not having it. Look at the size of him.’

Williams takes it all in his loping stride. “It was all good fun, a bit of a laugh, but I definitely got a lot of sh*t for that one’, he chuckles.

He acknowledges that despite his gargantuan dimensions there is far more to work on than just size. “Quins are happy with me around that 120 (kilogram) mark but it’s more about being quicker and more powerful while maintaining the same weight. A trap a lot of big guys fall into is just being big and that’s it. I can’t say I’m one of the gym ‘big dogs’ just yet but my numbers have gone up quite a bit this year thanks to a full-time professional rugby contract and doing proper structured programmes four or five times a week at the gym. I’m still filling out.”

Playing 80 minutes against Argentina and having to back it up with 80 minutes against South Africa was really tough but the experience of the boys who’d played last year was massive. They drove standards.

Williams has been fortunate enough to share the dressing room with some legends of the game, with 70-cap England great Joe Launchbury hanging up his boots and former Quins captain and former Springbok Stephan Lewies providing a blueprint for how to prepare like a professional. “Even now, weeks after they’ve left, I’m kicking myself for not trying to get more out of them. Launchers has played so many times for England and Steph is an absolute lineout nause. Then there’s Guido (Petti) who is winning his 100th cap for Argentina this week. His rugby IQ is through the roof. I’ve been really lucky to have had so many people helping me. Even though they had a few injuries, it reflected so well on them how easily I was able to slot in.”

Ahead of a breakthrough season, Williams is very much concentrating on the job at hand for the Red Rose, after an intense period in Georgia. “One of the learnings we’ve discussed is around the five-day turnaround. Playing 80 minutes against Argentina and having to back it up with 80 minutes against South Africa was really tough but the experience of the boys who’d played last year was massive. They drove standards around recovery and focusing on making sure you knew your detail.”

Between Argentina and South Africa games, Williams believes the squad did prepare effectively. Yet despite leading 20-12 at half-time, a red card for openside flanker Seb Kelly, saw them shipping 41 points in the second-half to go down swinging 53-37. Williams is proud of the team’s efforts in adversity. “I really do believe that had things not gone differently in that game, without a few HIAs and the red card, it would have been a really tight game.”

On Kelly’s well-documented transgression, after striking Luan Gillomee with the head after a tackle, which after a disciplinary led to a six-game ban, Williams, a former England U18 captain, is not one for sugar-coating the incident. “Seb’s going to learn from it. It was a mistake and he’s not going to do it again. He is not a bad bloke and I don’t think anyone blames him. It was a bad decision in the heat of battle. He’s still a good mate of ours and since the game, he’s done everything in his power to prepare us for New Zealand, which shows the kind of person he is. I can’t applaud him highly enough for how he’s gone about fixing it.”

I’m hungry to get back into the squad. I’m going to have to train hard and prove to the coach and the Quins management that I wasn’t just like an emergency injury placement, I want to fight for my place.

Away from the pitch, after securing three A-Levels and a DiSE qualification (Diploma in Sporting Excellence), Williams is biding his time on next steps. “I have options to go to university but my plan for next year is to do a Level 2 coaching degree. I’ve always wanted to give back to the people around me so I want to go back to a local rugby club and coach. I already help my brothers, who are playing at Twickenham RFC.”

With his L-plates still firmly attached as a professional rugby player, Williams isn’t looking to venture far from The Stoop for now, where the club have made a decision on his future position. “Quins definitely see me more as a second row, who can play 6. A year ago, I came in at 113-114kgs and it was undecided where I’d specialise, but Quins want me as a tight-end lock long term’, so they’ve asked me to put some weight on.”

While expressing surprise that he got game-time in the Harlequins pack at 18, he doesn’t just want to slip away out of sight. “I’m hungry to get back into the squad. I’m going to have to train hard and prove to the coach and the Quins management s that I wasn’t just like an emergency injury placement, I want to fight for my place.”

His style of play, tough and uncompromising, won’t hurt, and will surely lead to comparisons with other second-rows vying for an England shirt in the years to come. One player, in particular, has set the standard for Williams. “I’ve said a couple of times, I like how physical George Martin is around the park. That’s where I want to get to. As a second-row, you want your set-piece, scrum and lineout, to be good, but it’s a massive USP to be able to win the big collisions and tackles and have moments in the game.

Before looking too far ahead, Williams, who has one more year at U20 level, must focus on giving those that will leave age-grade rugby, one final, winning, send-off. “It’s not the big one (the final), but it’s still opportunity for this group to go and have one last hurrah. To do it against the Haka and a side like New Zealand is special and we have to back ourselves. A few of us were a bit annoyed after the South Africa game, we could have performed a little bit better than we did. We want to right those wrongs.”