In the hours before his first England Under-20s cap, Sam Williams read a letter from his mother. Each of the playing squad receive a note from their parents alongside their match jersey and Williams, the all-action Leicester Tiger, waited until the morning of his debut to read his.
“It did everything it needed to in terms of giving me a purpose,” he tells RugbyPass. “It was special, mate.
“She said she remembers taking me down to Nottingham Corsairs, the local club, when I was four or five years old. She said she was proud of not only where I’ve gone with rugby, but I’ve turned into a decent bloke – or she thinks that anyway. I can’t ask for much more.”
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Williams wasn’t sure he’d be here, in the cloying heat of Northern Italy, starting on the openside flank as England began the defence of their World Rugby U20s Championship crown by blitzing Scotland.
Last year, he’d required surgery on his right knee. In January, he took a blow to the left one in training. The upshot was another procedure and an almighty scrap to get fit for the summer. Williams had never played any age-grade rugby for England and, now 20, this was his last opportunity to wear the rose at youth level.
“Getting the injury in January, I thought it was most likely I wouldn’t be able to play at the championship. We were told I’d be pushing it but myself and the guys at Leicester saw that as a bit of a challenge. Not the be-all and end-all, but motivation to work hard.
It was when I was told, ‘you need to go home and basically don’t do anything on the knee, you need to sit and ice it for four or five hours, you can’t walk the dog, can’t go out with the family’, that was harder. I watched a lot of crap TV.
“There were definitely times when, say, a month away from hoping to be back playing, you have a bad week and think, ‘hang on, if I’m struggling for a running session, how in three or four weeks am I going to get through a game? This isn’t going to happen.’
“The process was tough. I struggled more with having to switch off at home. Actually going into the club and knowing you are making steps to get better, that felt good. That was never an issue. It was when I was told, ‘you need to go home and basically don’t do anything on the knee, you need to sit and ice it for four or five hours, you can’t walk the dog, can’t go out with the family’, that was harder. I watched a lot of crap TV. That was the toughest part.”
Some young players subsist on emotion. Others are extravagant types who want to showcase themselves on social media and our game is all the better for them. That’s not for everyone. Williams is different. He’s not fanatical about a sports team, a band, a fashion line, a gaming franchise. His mandatory song en route back from his first appearance was Rude by MAGIC!, purely because it’s the only one he can remember in its entirety. His Instagram is sparingly populated and his posts matter of fact. He responds to questions with a measured tone. He’s about as level headed and rational an athlete as you will find anywhere in this tournament. It’s how he goes to work in the trenches too: pragmatic, but fiercely driven.
“I’m definitely not much of a flashy player. I like to be known more as someone who is consistently good, does their job well, leads by their actions in the physical side of the game, gets involved in everything.”
You wonder what gets him animated away from rugby.
“Not too much,” he says. “I just want to hit my potential; that’s what drives me.”
Williams is self-aware enough to appreciate his blissful childhood, raised in a loving home with no social or economic barriers to chase his goals, no strife preventing a clear run at professional sport.
I want to be able to sit when I’m 60 years old and think, you know what? I gave everything I could, and where I got to was the best I was ever going to reach because I worked so hard.
“I don’t really have a sob story, I come from a very good family who have always been brilliant with me, so supportive. I don’t really have any excuse not to give my best to something.
“I want to be able to sit when I’m 60 years old and think, you know what? I gave everything I could, and where I got to was the best I was ever going to reach because I worked so hard. I don’t want to look back and think I could have done more if I’d worked harder.
“I’m lucky enough to know, this is not my gift, but the one thing I’m better at that anything else. It’s quite clear to me if I’m going to do anything different [in life], it’s going to be this. Whatever my ceiling is, I want to hit it.”
This season, he has been pulling up trees in the Championship, a league notorious for its attritional demands. Mark Mapletoft, England’s head coach, made a point of singling out his percussive impacts for Nottingham. A 20-year-old fetcher doesn’t stand out here unless he’s got serious snarl. Williams made his full Tigers bow in the Premiership Cup in November and is well placed to crack the Prem next season, following the path trodden by the outstanding Emeka Ilione.
“I don’t think I’ve had anything close to the perfect game – you never really do – and I want to keep working and testing myself,” he says. “I feel I’ve played well at Champ level, I’m playing well at the moment, so can I play well at U20s level, can I play well in the Prem, and then we’ll see what happens.
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“There’s a lot of work to be done but you can definitely see the light. If I don’t go for it, it’s a missed opportunity. There’s also a little bit of, I don’t know what else I’d really do. I wouldn’t want to be in an office job. I look up to those older boys at Leicester and really want to have that lifestyle. This is everything I want to do, so why not go all in?”
On Friday, England’s quest for another world title cranks into high gear. The Junior Boks of South Africa are roaring down the tracks, vanquished by England on their own patch in last year’s pool stage, but sparking this summer’s campaign with a record shellacking of Australia. Their back-row is enormous; each man a thoroughbred athlete with dazzling skills.
“That’s why we play the game,” Williams reflects. “You’re not going to come out here and beat every team by 50 points. Playing against teams like South Africa will bring the best out of us, definitely physically, and having each other’s backs. We’ll be better for it.”
His knees mended and his purpose clear, he’s ready for the challenge.
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