Ex-rugby star’s courage in

IT ISN’T easy these days, but Gareth Williams still wakes with a smile on his face, because that’s the kind of person he is.

The former Bridgend, Wales and British Lions forward has been bedbound for more than a year, fighting a rare nervous system disorder for which there is no cure. Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) causes nerve cells in the brain to deteriorate over time, triggering problems with balance, movement and the autonomic nervous system. It is an unrelenting, progressive condition.

But it has picked on a tough customer in Gareth Williams, a battler who is driven by positivity. His system may be under attack but he refuses to let MSA break his spirit.

“He’s the strongest person there is,” says daughter Nia, who has immersed herself in a fundraising and awareness-raising effort for the MSA Trust by running marathons.

“The diagnosis came in November 2012 after many years with various symptoms. He’s been bed-bound since January 2017 but he’s fighting because that’s the type of person he is – a fighter. Every day he wakes with a smile and he is never anything but good-natured.

“He is an inspiration and I am proud to have him as a dad.”

As a player the 6ft 4in, 15st 6lb forward, who could operate across the back row, appeared five times for Wales between 1980 and 1982, debuting against Graham Mourie’s All Blacks and going head to head with the redoubtable No. 8 Murray Mexted.

He also figured for the 1980 Lions after joining them as a replacement.

But the team Gareth will always be synonymous with are Bridgend RFC.

He played in four successive Welsh cup finals for the club, including the wins over Pontypridd in 1979 and Swansea in 1980, scoring a try in the first of those showpieces and walking off with the player-of-the-game bauble in the second.

The 1980-81 Welsh Brewers Rugby Annual for Wales recorded in its review of the encounter with Swansea: “The outstanding player was Bridgend’s Gareth Williams and Welsh Rugby Writers’ Association members