Nick Williams turned 35 last Sunday. As he drew breath to extinguish the candles on his cake, the Cardiff Blues No 8 marvelled that he was still taking the field at a time when the physical toll on players was prompting a number of early retirements.
It is not as if the former Junior All Black, who arrived at the Arms Park after stints with Munster, Aironi and Ulster, operates on the margins of a game. At more than 20st few players are more effective at finding their way over the gainline and the demolition man intends to raze a few more defences before touching his cap to the passing of the years.
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“The heart still wants to go on but it depends on how well the body holds up,” says Williams, who is on the bench on Sunday and likely to redefine the meaning of “impact player” when the Blues visit Allianz Park looking to end Saracens’ 20-match unbeaten run. “I am in negotiations about carrying on, but with my wife first. I never thought I would still be involved when I reached 30 given the way I play, so going on this long must have something to do with my genes.
“You just look forward to playing and going to Saracens is to take on one of the powerhouses of European rugby. I think we can give them a good run for their money. The Premiership is a defence-based competition and in Wales we play more of an open game than they are used to. The beauty of the Champions Cup is that you have three leagues coming into one.”
My family will be settling in Cardiff after I retire. It’s a home away from home; Wales could do with another Williams!
Saracens are unbeaten at home since Leicester toppled them amid this year’s Six Nations, but the Blues travel well. They won in Lyon in October’s opening round and doubled Toulouse and Lyon in last season’s Challenge Cup groups before winning their quarter-final at Edinburgh and overcoming Gloucester in the final in Bilbao.
“A big thing about the Blues is the belief we have built up in the last couple of seasons,” said Williams. “When we travel to one of the big teams, we always say that we have nothing to lose. It is about going out there and expressing yourself and that is the mentality we will have at Saracens.
“Everyone has written us off and that will give us motivation. Saracens are a bloody tough team wherever they play, with a brand of rugby that suits them. We have to try and impose our gameplan on them and, if we come off the field having given everything, we can look each other in the eyes in the dressing room afterwards whatever the outcome and take that into the return encounter. I know what is coming because I played Saracens a few times when I was with Ulster. They were always good, intense battles.”
Williams comes from strong rugby stock. His brother, Tim Nanai‑Williams, is a Samoan international who plays for Clermont Auvergne while the New Zealand centre Sonny Bill Williams is a cousin. “We are close as a family and I regularly speak to Sonny Bill,” says the back-row, who played for the Junior All Blacks in 2006 when he was at the Auckland-based Blues.
Sonny Bill is undecided about what to do after next year’s World Cup. Has his cousin recommended Cardiff? “Whatever he does, I am sure he will be good at it,” replies Williams. “He is someone who keeps his professional and private lives separate.
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“Whatever I do after the World Cup, I will not be returning to New Zealand. My wife and I will be settling in Cardiff with our three girls, all of whom were born in Europe. I have worked here for 12 years and it has become a home away from New Zealand; Wales could do with another Williams!
“I do not know what I will do when I finish playing. Rugby has been part of my life for so long that I would not mind taking a bit of time away from it. I don’t know any other life but I have been exploring other opportunities and unions now draw on external support to help players make the transition from playing, which is an exciting and daunting prospect at the same time. It is just a job: a lot of people think you live the life, and don’t get me wrong, it is a great lifestyle, but you know it will eventually come to an end. When that day comes you have to be sorted.”
Williams’s time in Wales has coincided with a national resurgence and he sees them as World Cup contenders in Japan next year. “The setup here is similar to Ireland in the way top players are managed. The autumn series showed Wales are doing something right and the World Cup promises to be the most open yet. I will always go for the boys in black but it is far harder to predict than recent tournaments, which can only be good for the game.”