Lyn: Shane was just the greatest
HE coached him for a decade and saw him score some wonderful tries in that time, so it’s wholly understandable for Lyn Jones to rate Shane Williams in his sidestepping, try-scoring pomp as an exceptional rugby player.
Quite how far his admiration for the former Neath, Ospreys and Wales wing extends has only now been revealed, however.
In an interview with Phil Steele for Scrum V, Jones touts Williams as the finest Welsh rugby player of them all.
For a man who played alongside Jonathan Davies and is old enough to remember Gareth Edwards at his very best, that is some call.
But Jones is adamant, saying: “When Shane finished he was probably Wales’s greatest-ever player, and
I’m including Gareth Edwards in that, as well.
“I always thought Elgan Rees was a brilliant player during my time here and I always thought he would always be Neath’s greatest winger, but Shane came along and surpassed him very quickly.
“He just got people off their seats to watch.
“Shane wasn’t difficult to coach. When players like that come along you don’t really coach them too much.
“You just allow them a framework to play within.
“He came here as a second-choice scrum-half; he really wasn’t a good scrum-half.
“He could only pass one way and kick with his left foot which is always a problem for a nine.
“Through accident we eventually moved him to the right wing. The left wing told me to my face he was never going to kick the ball. I said: ‘Fine, you go on the right’.
“And Shane came over to the left, and he did well.”
He was asked to confirm his view that he rated Williams better than Edwards. “And Gerald Davies,” he says. “That’s my opinion.
“I’m sure that guys who are 10 years and a generation older than me will perhaps say different and say Barry John or Phil Bennett or whoever.
“But the things that Shane did for Wales and the Ospreys and Neath – he kept a lot of people employed, and I mean coaches as well.”