FROM ZERO TO HERO
Munster’s veteran No9 is making most of chances to prove his doubters wrong
MUNSTER scrumhalf Duncan Williams has always been mentally strong — he has needed to be. On Saturday, the 32-year-old Corkman will make his 160th competitive appearance for his province, that’s more than Munster icons Keith Earls, Peter O’Mahony and Conor Murray... but we’ll come back to Murray.
It is a commendable stint of service that has earned the full respect and appreciation of his fellow players and Munster management.
External appreciation, however, is a different matter entirely.
It is safe to say no Munster player has received the same levels of outside criticism Williams has been subjected to since making his competitive debut against Connacht in 2009.
Much was, rightly, made of Ian Keatley being booed by a section of Munster fans a few years ago, a sorry episode when the province was at a particularly low ebb.
But that was one game, Williams has endured years of vitriolic abuse on social media, casual dismissal by pundits and groans from the stands when his name is called out for regular appearances off the bench.
That would test the mental fortitude of any player but Williams just gets on with it, realising that harsh scrutiny comes with the territory of backing up a Munster hero and, arguably, the finest scrum-half in world rugby.
Operating in Murray’s shadow is undoubtedly a tough station, comparisons are inevitable with bit-part exposure making it hard to generate consistency. And there have certainly been occasions where the drop off in quality has been pronounced — cementing the notion that Williams is ‘not up to it’ and the option of last resort.
Yet, the evidence shows that, when he has benefited from a run of games, Williams is an accomplished operator — there is a reason his Munster contract keeps getting extended, the latest one taking him up to June next year. However, perception is king, particularly in the age of online opprobrium, and the scrum-half is well aware of the reality that his positive contributions go largely under the radar whereas his poor days are seized upon. Last season, on the back of a string of impressive showings, Williams was pressed on the issue of not getting the credit he deserved and was pragmatically candid in response. ‘I’ve played just as well as this before but, because the perception was out there that I was “useless”, people didn’t think so,’ he observed. ‘If people want to think that, they can think that, but in my own mind that’s not the case. I wouldn’t say there wasn’t an air (of dismissal) but perception is perception, so whatever people want to think…’
Last weekend should prompt a change in that thinking.
With Murray injured, Alby Mathewson had leapfrogged Williams as the nominated stand-in and, when the in-form All Black was ruled out of Munster’s daunting opening Champions Cup tie in Exeter, the groans started again.
Indeed, Williams starting at No9 was widely cited by supporters and pundits as a major reason why Munster were predicted to lose in Sandy Park.
Yet, that casual analysis ignored the evidence of Williams’ fine form in the early part of the season (when Mathewson was waiting for his work permit to be sorted) and, whereas he had previously suffered when thrust into big games cold, the scrum-half ‘had his eye in’ travelling to Exeter and confidence to back it up. It showed.
O’Mahony, Tadhg Beirne and Joey Carbery were immense but Williams was probably the biggest reason Munster left Devon with an excellent draw rather than the defeat that had been widely predicted.
On a blustery and fiendishly difficult day for scrum-halves, his passing, kicking and decisionmaking were vital to Munster’s progress while his superb sweeping and double-tackle prevented what would have been the matchwinning try.
Williams has endured years of vitriolic abuse
‘I’m so proud of Duncan and the way he came through. I made a special mention of him in the dressing room, it’s superb for a player to put in a shift like that,’ said grateful Munster boss Johann van Graan afterwards.
The quality has always been there and, when Williams first emerged in the early 2000s with CBC Cork, the Ireland Schools and Under 21 star was being flagged as an Ireland No9 of the future.
A horrendous run of injuries saw Williams struggle to carry that potential forward and then his career became an understudy operation, first behind Peter Stringer and Tomás O’Leary and then, for the last seven years, Murray.
Rather than bemoan his lot, Williams embraced it as a motivation for constant improvement.
‘I’m a rugby nerd. You are always looking at the best players in the world, seeing what they can do and what you can pick up and you take it for granted that Conor is going to be one of the best players on the pitch.’
No arguments there but, equally, Williams has a crucial role to play this season as Munster seek to end their seven-year trophy drought.
With Murray’s return date unclear and Mathewson battling injury also, Munster will lean heavily on their veteran scrum-half — on Saturday against Gloucester, through the November international window and beyond.
And, while it is not going to propel him into Ireland’s World Cup plans for next year, if Williams (who has completed a Masters degree in Business Studies at CIT) continues his late-career flourish, there may even be another Munster contract in his future.
‘It’s always good to get an extension, it means you don’t have to work in an office for another bit anyway. I am a stubborn man at the best of times, I don’t want to be giving up my place,’ said Williams last March.
That stubborness is standing to him, and to Munster.