Williams: I played best rugby at Ulster... Belfast will always feel like home

Kiwi on time at Ravenhill, new school job and rebuilding life after cardiac arrest

BEST to begin with a bar in Soho. Strange as it may seem, this is where the current phase of Nick Williams’ journey has its genesis, a chance meeting in London’s West End last summer.

Not that Williams was there but he didn’t need to be as a chance chat involving former Wales and British and Irish Lions player Lee Byrne with a teacher originally from Belfast led to a job offer at Bryanston School in Dorset as Head of Rugby.

All may be a bit unorthodox but then that’s frequently been a theme with Williams who as a player left New Zealand, having played for Auckland Blues and the Junior All Blacks, for a northern hemisphere adventure which took in Munster and Aironi in Italy before his power and offloading skills were properly unleashed at Ulster and Cardiff.

The 40-year-old from Auckland has been at Bryanston since September and, so far, all parties are benefiting; the pupils absorbing his experience from 16 years in the pro game while Williams himself has been re-energised and is fully invested in his unexpected opportunity after having overcome his health issues post-rugby.

“Yeah, it’s a story and a half,” Williams explains of his arrival at Bryanston.

“The Director of Sport here at Bryanston is Rory Mccann from Belfast and when he was in this bar in Soho, he met Lee who is a good friend of mine and Rory mentioned that he was looking for someone to build the (rugby) culture at the school.

“And Lee said, ‘I’ve a man who might fit the bill.’

“I wasn’t looking to be honest, if anything I was enjoying my break from rugby but then Rory gave me a shout.

“You may call it fate, you may call it coincidence, but once ‘culture’ was mentioned I was sold.

“I’d like to think my time in Belfast helped me with this path.”

It undoubtedly did as he was an unmistakable and hugely popular presence during his four years at Ravenhill, then coach Mark Anscombe bringing him over in 2012 from Italy, the Kiwi using his knowledge of Williams from back home to fully deploy his physical destructiveness.

Having originally arrived in the northern hemisphere at Munster where he had spent two low-key years, Williams was doing something similar at the then Italian franchise Aironi and returning home to New Zealand was looking on the cards before Anscombe made contact.

“After Aironi I wanted to go back and play more Super (Rugby) but ‘Cowboy’ (Anscombe) said, ‘No, you’re going to get your big Polynesian behind up here in the wet and the cold and play some rugby’,” Williams explains.

“I will always be grateful to ‘Cowboy’. He was my first professional coach in New Zealand so we went way back, and he knew how to get the best of me.

“It’s simple, if you keep my family happy, I’ll go to the ends of the earth for you on the pitch.

“And I can honestly say that I played the best rugby of my career at Ravenhill. There was something that just clicked.

“That was a big year, my first at Ulster,” he recalls and at the end of that first season (2012/13) he won the IRUPA Players’ Player of the Year and the PRO12 Player of the Year accolades.

“It was a time of growth (for me) in Belfast both on and off the pitch and that’s why I’ll always be grateful to ‘Cowboy’ but especially the people at Ravenhill.”

He was an immediate hit with both players and supporters. The family grew as well, with the couple’s second daughter born during their four years in Belfast.

And then quite suddenly things changed. Anscombe unexpectedly departed on the first day back after the summer break in 2014, leaving Williams shaken and uncertain of his own future.

“Taking my professional hat off and my personal hat on, ‘Cowboy’ is like a father figure to me.”

And of why he was ditched? “To this day I wouldn’t have a clue,” he says.

“Basing it on results, it doesn’t really weigh up, it’s like an episode of Unsolved Mysteries.

“I felt quite vulnerable as ‘Cowboy’ had brought me across, so I didn’t know where my future stood but that was a tough time for myself and my family because we’re really close to them (the Anscombes) and to this day they are like adopted grandparents to my kids.”

He still stayed two more years and though the leaving of his mentor was a dark time it still didn’t take away from his enjoyment of playing for the province.

“Every now and then I’ll come back,” he says, “and I was there for Jared Payne’s wedding.

“I went to Bath versus Ulster at the Rec a few months back and Ulster people were still coming up to me. There will always be a sense of home in Belfast for us.”

He is understandably more philosophical now about his former career and, indeed, life.

“This game has blessed me in more ways than I know,” says Williams who after Ulster spent four years at Cardiff before retiring during Covid in 2020, “and a few things have happened like my health scare which made me realise that it would be stupid of me not to share this knowledge.”

At Bryanston, Williams and his team are right across rugby at both main and prep schools, the idea being to reinforce the culture of the game.

“It’s just about trying to provide an environment where the kids feel like they want to be a part of it and then the rugby will just take care of itself.

“Rugby is an important part but it’s not the whole part.”

He cites a mantra ‘be big, stay big’, which he picked up at Ravenhill and is being deployed in Dorset where Williams now lives with wife Gemma and their three daughters.

“To ‘be big, stay big’, that’s not physically, that can cover a lot of things — the way you think, the way you hold yourself, the way you come across to people.

“You want to be proud but what’s more important is humility and that’s a mixture from my upbringing as well,” he says.

“You know, never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be involved in this environment.

“It is a special place; my eldest daughter goes to the prep, and it’s been an absolute blessing of a move for me and the girls.”

He turned 40 last December but admits his 39th was more the milestone after suffering a cardiac arrest in September 2022 which would have been fatal but for the medical attention given by a friend who knew CPR and intervention of the Wales Air Ambulance Service.

“It came out of nowhere and it was a pretty life changing event.

“The one thing that got me; I’ve never suffered from my mental health but that’s what I suffered from the most, it was huge.

“Things like my anxiety, I was scared that because it came out of nowhere, it could come out of nowhere again.

“I had to reach out to my mates, and I reconnected with people I hadn’t spoken to in a while.”

Williams’ family — he doesn’t often get back home, but younger brother Tim Nanai-williams is closer at hand and still playing in France — and faith were pillars of strength as he gradually rebuilt his life and equilibrium.

“As a parent you sacrifice yourself, you’ve had your run, and you give it on to the kids and that’s very similar to what I’m doing in Bryanston.

“I always thank rugby for what it has given me. But it’s my job to pass it on, not hold onto it.”

Now big Nick is finally giving something back, all thanks to that chance meeting in Soho.

COLIN Turkington returns to Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship action at Brands Hatch this weekend feeling optimistic about taking another step forward in his updated BMW.

Turkington opened his account at Donington Park last month where he bagged a fifth, a fourth and a runner-up finish to leave him fourth in the standings on 41 points — 17 shy of provisional leader Tom Ingram.

Similar to how last year’s campaign finished, the 2024 instalment of the UK tin top series began with front-wheel-drive cars from Hyundai and Ford scoring strongly in the changeable conditions, with Toyota also getting in on the act as Aiden Moffat steered his Corolla to success in Race Three.

However, the engine, aerodynamic and cooling changes that have been applied to the 42-yearold’s 330e M Sport following an intense period of pre-season testing meant he was never far away in the trophy hunt.

Brands Hatch has been kind to him down through the years; he achieved his maiden victory in the BTCC there 11 years ago and clinched each of his four titles at the Kent venue’s longer GP layout.

“West Surrey Racing did a fantastic pre-season effort, and the fruits of that showed last time,” said Turkington, who is in qualifying action this afternoon following two free practice runs.

“The BMW should be even stronger at Brands Hatch — a track I’ve won on before with the 3 Series — and if the weather stays consistent and we can work through our plan in practice, I’m sure we’ll have front-running pace.

“We came into Donington knowing we were in a better position than last year but not sure where that would put us relative to our nearest rivals. Now we know where we are and what we need to focus on, but overall, we had a good package at Donington Park. I am looking forward to Brands.”

Under the revised rules for 2024, Turkington will be allowed to use hybrid boost for seven seconds on each lap of qualifying and for eight laps of tomorrow’s opening 24-lap race just before midday.

“Qualifying will be very interesting this time at Brands Hatch Indy, as we have the hybrid energy management (success penalty) system in operation that wasn’t in play at Donington,” he added.

Also keen to improve at Rounds Four, Five and Six are Donaghmore’s Andrew Watson (Toyota Gazoo Racing UK) and Carrickfergus’ Chris Smiley (Restart Racing), who sit 12th and 17th respectively.

Meanwhile, Charlie Eastwood returns to FIA World Endurance Championship action this afternoon at Spa-francorchamps keen to extend TF Sport’s remarkable run of podium finishes there.

The UK team, which runs both of Corvette Racing’s Z06 GT3.R cars, has visited the rostrum on six consecutive occasions at the Belgian venue, with Eastwood involved in four of these results.