LIONS SPECIAL INSIDE TODAY:
THE late actor David Carradine once told a revealing tale about the time he went to audition for the iconic role of Caine in the old western TV series Kung Fu.
It hadn’t gone particularly well in front of po-faced and hard-to-please interviewers who had previously rejected Bruce Lee for the gig.
As he left the room, Carradine jumped up and kicked the wall, leaving a footprint above the door frame.
Those doing the casting knew they had their man.
It is true: you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
And yet it is equally the case that minds can be changed.
Which is what Liam Williams will hope, anyway.
To say his Lions career started inauspiciously is akin to saying the Titanic’s maiden voyage didn’t go especially well.
Pumped up to the point where it seemed he might steam-train into referee Pascal Gauzere if he strayed anywhere near the ball, Williams conceded a penalty within five minutes of his arrival on the pitch as a replacement when he brought down Matt Duffie in the air.
Three minutes later there was virtually a repeat performance, only this time the French official dispatched the Saracens-bound utility man to the sin bin.
Let’s just assume Warren Gatland would not have been whistling Oh Happy Day at that very point.
But the head coach will know that life on a rugby field is always a balancing act for Williams.
He is an individual who plays on the edge, whose game is a blend of eye-catching flair and steely aggression.
His courage and appetite for battle help make him the player he is. Dilute his belligerence and you take away the essence of the former scaffolder.
Yet discipline counts and Williams knows it.
Memories are still clear of the exWaunarlwydd RFC man conceding a penalty try after shoulder-barging Cornal Hendricks into touch in the final seconds of the South AfricaWales clash in Nelspruit in 2014.
The Boks kicked the conversion to win the match 31-30: agony for the visitors, and especially for Williams.
But he tightened up significantly thereafter and has been a regular for Wales ever since.
He is a player who knows how to handle himself – recall how he flipped Hanno Dirksen over during a one-onone tussle in a Scarlets-Ospreys match not so long ago, and charged in to help a beleaguered Wales teammate who was being assailed by Japanese forwards in 2013, Williams not waiting for his own pack members to rouse themselves.
Gatland will want him to retain the fire at the core of his game, but he will also surely remind Williams of the need for his aggression to be controlled.
Let’s assume George North will nail down one of the Test spots out wide in the Lions’ series against New Zealand.
The other wing position is wide open.
Jack Nowell, presumably, would have to come from a long way back to get within flying distance of it after the difficult evening he encountered in Auckland against the Blues.
And neither Elliot Daly, Tommy Seymour nor Anthony Watson especially seized the day when given starting opportunities.
So, Williams has a chance against the Crusaders this weekend to make a statement and show himself worthy of a Test spot.
There are many who believe his best position is full-back, where he can join the line and either knife through gaps or fix defenders with his eyes before passing. And few No. 15s in world rugby can run from deep like Williams.
But Gatland evidently views him as a better wing.
That being the case, it is up to Williams to remind the Lions boss what he can do there – and five tries from his last nine Tests out wide for Wales suggests that is quite a lot, actually.
Last summer, the New Zealand public and media warmed to him because of his raw talent and up-and- at-’em approach to the game.
He may have started this tour inauspiciously.
But this tough-nut player has too much to offer not to figure in the Tests, wherever he plays.
He just needs to take his opportunity in Christchurch.