INJURY BLOW FOR WALES WORLD CUP STAR WILLIAMS
HE’S been the super-sub of Wales’ World Cup campaign.
Time and again during the tournament, Tomos Williams has come off the bench to make key interventions at key moments.
In the pool opener against Georgia, he showed his raw speed by winning the race to George North’s kick ahead to touch down.
And then he returned the favour, somehow escaping from a cul de sac with fantastic footwork before sending North away to the line with a one-handed scoring pass.
Next up against Australia, his basketball background came to the fore as he leapt acrobatically in the air and knocked the ball back into play as the Wallabies looked to kick a penalty into the Welsh 22 with just four minutes left and the game hanging in the balance.
A further try followed versus Uruguay, as he sniped over in classic scrum-half fashion to take Wales clear in the closing stages.
Then, last Sunday, came arguably his most important contribution of all, as he ripped the ball out of the hands of France’s Charles Ollivon to pave the way for Ross Moriarty’s match-winning try.
And all of these magic moments came as a replacement, with Williams having been brought off the bench in all five matches to date.
Folk of my generation will remember a Liverpool striker of the 1970s called David Fairclough who turned a series of big games with key goals as a super-sub.
Well, Williams is the modernday rugby equivalent for Wales.
So what makes him such a fantastic “finisher”, to use the current parlance for replacements? What makes this ultimate impact-player tick?
One man ideally placed to provide the answer is his backs coach at Cardiff Blues, Richie Rees, himself a former Welsh international scrum-half.
“I first saw Tomos playing for Blues U18s and then I properly took note of him with Wales U20s, where he played a year early,” recalled Rees. “Being an ex No 9 myself, I suppose you see traits in scrum-halves that you like.
“And as soon as I saw him, I saw those in him.”
As a youngster growing up in Treorchy, Williams played a lot of basketball, as did all his family, and he represented Wales U16s at the sport, with point guard being his position.
When the Blues Academy came calling, at the age of 18, he had to choose between the two sports and opted for rugby.
But he has often said how playing basketball helped develop his handling skills and Rees sees this kind of background as a big plus.
“Teachers and practitioners have been banging on about this for so long, how this multi-sport thing transfers later into your career when you do specialise in one sport,” he said.
“That’s exactly what happened to Tomos.”
Rees has spent a lot of time with
Williams on the training ground, so is able to give an insight, not only into his rugby ability, but also his personality.
“He is brilliant to work with,” said the former Ospreys, Blues and Dragons scrum-half.
“Tomos is straight down the line. I love working with him.
“If you tell him something, he takes it on board and his work ethic is exceptional.
“Technically, he’s very sound. The basics of his game are spot on.
“What he does have is that electric footwork and that dynamism to really take him away from the defender.
“You see it around the fringes with the little line breaks he has made over the last couple of games where he has come on and the difference that has made.
“When he’s challenging defenders, they simply can’t bring as much line speed as sides normally would.
“He’s very light on his feet and it’s his ability to change direction in such small areas of space.
“He uses his footwork to get his hands through contact and because his skill-set is so high, it means he’s got a great offloading game.
“He just gives you that X-factor. “Some coaches like real Steady Eddie half-backs who never really make a break, the likes of Peter Stringer of this world, where he is purely there to service his 10.
“But because of the player
Tomos is, the game-changer he is, the talent he has got, you have got to use him to the best of his ability.”
The nine-cap Rees points out there’s also another side to Williams’ game.
“He’s uncompromising,” he said. “He’s got that edge, that bite about him physically, as a lot of nines used to have.
“He’s doesn’t shy away from the physical confrontation.”
And then there’s the crucial matter of communication and control.
“If you are going to be a real top end nine, you have got to be able to have a little disregard for others around you at times and just tell them what you want,” said Rees.
“Forwards, if we are honest, sometimes just want to be told where do you want me and what do you want me doing.
“A key example of that is the setup for your box kicks.
“You will see Tomos sometimes manhandling players around him to put himself in the position where he wants to be.
“He knows if they are not in the correct position, then the outcome is his box kick is going to be charged down.
“He has worked hard on his kicking game. He’s invested in it and spent time, with the amount of hours he spends on the field and looking back over footage.
“When he had a bit of an issue with his back 18 months ago, where he had eight weeks out of the game, he sat down and looked at his technique.
“He was aware he couldn’t be on the field, but he was analysing his technique, trying to break it down to help him in the long term. We are seeing the just rewards for that now.”
Rees adds: “Tomos sees the game particularly well with regard to perception, where’s the ball going next, his running lines.
“It’s no secret, I’ve been a massive fan of him for ages.
“He was always going to come through, it was just opportunity.
“If they have got that talent, it’s just giving them the chance to show it.
“He thoroughly deserves to be where he is now, with the respect he is getting off players and fans seeing the impact he has on these games.”
Rees believes Wales are well blessed at scrum-half as they head into Sunday’s semi-final against South Africa, with Williams and starting No 9 Gareth Davies pushing each other on with their fine form.
“With Tomos and Gareth, there’s some mental strength there between the two of them at the moment,” he said. “Tomos is a very confident guy and he would be a bit frustrated that he hasn’t started a game at the World Cup yet.
“It would be a big call if Gats puts him in against South Africa at the weekend. It would be an interesting one.
“Gats doesn’t like to roll the dice too often, but Tomos has had such a positive impact off the bench.
“But then Gareth has been key to a lot of good things that Wales have been doing, particularly in defence, while people know what he can do in attack.
“To have those two pushing hard is exceptional for Wales.”