The mythical SBW returns
OPINION: There aren’t many blokes that make other men go giggly and a bit weak at the knees.
Sonny Bill Williams does. As much myth as man, the cross-code superstar generates the kind of shock and awe mere mortals have to dream about.
When Williams is written or spoken about, the language takes on a tone more common in love letters. He’s special, you see, and people can’t help saying so.
Tomorrow Williams will relegate 45 professional rugby players to the role of extras. Despite only being on the bench, for his first game of 15 a-side footy since the 2015 Rugby World Cup final, Williams will have top billing when the Blues meet the Highlanders at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
This isn’t a dig at the 31-year-old, just a few statements of fact. Williams is a phenomenon and the kind of guy clubs and coaches and teammates pin their hopes upon.
The man’s sprinkled his titlewinning magic on teams such as the Bulldogs, Chiefs, Roosters and All Blacks and now the moribund Blues are praying he’ll breathe life into them.
Nothing blinds people like hope and, simply by being in the 23 for the first time this season, Williams has convinced the hopeful that nothing’s beyond the Blues this season. His track record’s certainly promising.
Hope’s probably in short supply, in Perth rugby circles. Seemingly marked for Super Rugby extinction, the Force have won just one match this season and you could forgive their players if their effort levels began to wane.
Only - to their great credit - there hasn’t been the slightest sign of that.
The Force lack talent and points-scoring ability, but boy they try. You could mount a strong argument that they played the Blues off Eden Park last week, only to be undone by the hosts’ individual brilliance.
That ability to bust a game open from nothing is both a blessing and a curse for the Blues. Last week it blessed the team, in the sense of enabling them to stave off an upset. In the long run, though, it’s a curse because it cons people into thinking the team are making progress.
As for the Force, they meet the Kings in Perth on Sunday and won’t get much better chances to register their second win than that.
The return from concussion of Waratahs first five-eighth Bernard Foley hasn’t escaped stand-in Hurricanes skipper TJ Perenara.
With regular captain Dane Coles still nursing a knee injury, Perenara will lead the Hurricanes out when they host the Waratahs tonight. The visitors boast threats all over the park, with Foley as dangerous as any of them apparently.
‘‘I remember the last two times [at Westpac Stadium] he’s carved us up. He took the ball to he line [and] he beat us on inside channels,’’ Perenara said.
‘‘He’s always a threat. He’s a strong ball carrier, he understands the game well, he kicks well, so we know we’ve got our hands full with him.’’
Everything’s pretty short this week, although I don’t mind the Stormers, at $2.45, to beat the Chiefs in Cape Town. I have tipped the Chiefs in that game, but it’s the only one in this round that I deliberated on at all.