Rugby: Williams pours cold water on hangover theory

Ali Williams. Photo / Getty Images.

Ali Williams has scoffed at suggestions the Blues and Crusaders are being hampered by a World Cup hangover.

Both teams are packed with All Blacks and yet are the worst performing New Zealand teams with one win from three matches. By contrast, the Highlanders have won all of their games, including an upset over the Crusaders in round two in which they fielded only three World Cup All Blacks - Andrew Hore, Adam Thomson and Hosea Gear.

The Chiefs have knocked over the Crusaders and Blues despite the apparent handicap of a "weak'' tight five, while the Hurricanes strung two wins together on the road against the Lions and Force.

Mention the hangover theory to Blues lock Williams, though, and it will be met with laughter and a shake of the head.

"It's a long season,'' he said. "You've got to build things up. People expect players to play at the best of their ability all the time, which is fair enough but in reality it's not going to happen. It's just one of those things - small errors that are in the game at the moment.''

Williams, who has played 73 times for the All Blacks and has 88 Super Rugby caps, was a part of the Crusaders title-winning team of 2008 so he knows his way around both of New Zealand's most successful franchises.

He also knows the margins between winning and losing are often very small - the Blues lost their opener against the Crusaders by one point after Piri Weepu's late drop goal attempt was charged down and Todd Blackadder's men have lost their matches by fewer than five points.

"You don't have to win every game, you just have to hang in there consistently. Trust me, we're going to be there at the end and so will the Crusaders.''

Even so, Williams concedes winning is a habit which is why the Blues getting off the mark with a victory over the Bulls in Pretoria was so important. It also eased the considerable pressure beginning to mount against coach Pat Lam. "It was a building plank,'' he said. "We have to back it up this week [against the Stormers in Cape Town. Newlands is one of the homes of rugby so it will be another difficult one but we're up for it.''

Williams himself has had a quiet start to the season. The Blues lineout has been dysfunctional and the absence due to a neck injury of All Black leaper Anthony Boric is unlikely to help things, so the heat will be on Williams and hooker Keven Mealamu to counter the Stormers' favoured lineout drive game plan.

This was one area where the otherwise disappointing Bulls had ascendancy last weekend.

"I think I'm building,'' Williams said. "I definitely think I'm getting better.''