Rugby: 'Southside' rising as Nanai-Williams takes off

Tim Nanai-Williams says his success is a signal to others. Photo / Getty Images

Tim Nanai-Williams felt he had no choice but to keep his emotions in check when Chiefs coach Ian Foster rang last week with glad tidings.

He wanted to cry, to scream out in joy, but in Manurewa that would have meant a serious loss of face.

"I was actually having a coffee with some mates," Nanai-Williams says. "I looked at my phone and saw that I had missed four calls from Fozzie in a short space of time. I was like, 'Oh man, this is either very good or very bad'.

"I finally picked up one of his calls and it was all good.

"I wanted to cry but I was in front of my mates. I was over the moon. I was just trying to hold all my emotions in until I got some alone time and could scream."

At 20, Nanai-Williams, who is a fullback, is one of the new breed of professional players who were not alive to witness an All Black World Cup victory.

He's also one of the first in what the Chiefs hope will be many talented players to come out of the South Auckland hinterland. Seeing the startling progress made by Joe Rokocoko, another Manurewa product, a few years back sharpened the Chiefs' talent identification focus.

"It's good, basic rugby communication," Chiefs coach Ian Foster says. "They [Manurewa High] have been part of our 1st XV curtain-raiser programme and we go up there for the odd session so they can get to know us and we get to know them."

The Chiefs have been acutely aware of a problem Counties' bosses have wrestled with for years: that an ultra-competitive 1st XV programme results in many of the region's most talented players being siphoned off into Auckland's high-decile schools, from which they don't return.

"Are we doing as well as we can in that area? We'd like to do better but we have a really strong relationship with Counties and with the likes of Tim and Lelia Masaga in the squad we're demonstrating there are realistic pathways into Super 14."

While Rokocoko left Manurewa High School for the more salubrious surrounds of St Kentigern College in Auckland's eastern suburbs, Nanai-Williams stayed, in his words, "Southside".

"It's really good for the school," Nanai-Williams says. "It shows you can make it. It's a pretty hard community, you know. There's not many All Blacks from out there, but I was lucky enough to be a kid that was pretty determined to go places.

"Hopefully it gives hope back to the community and the kids out there.

"When you're a little kid in Manurewa you just seem to get into trouble," he says, choosing not to elaborate on what exactly "trouble" is. "I got into trouble a few times but I was lucky because my Mum and Nan were always there to clip me around the ears and keep me on track.

"This [Super 14 selection] is for my Nan and my Mum," continues Nanai-Williams, number six of eight children, "for always being there for me."

This raising Super 14 players is probably starting to feel a bit old hat for Aolele Williams, Nanai-Williams' mother. An older son, Nick, plays for Munster in Ireland but in a previous rugby life was a North Harbour and Blues No 8.

Nanai-Williams aspired to be like his brother but size, or lack thereof, meant he was always going to struggle to break the advantage line while rumbling off the back of a scrum.

At 82kg, there are few lighter than Nanai-Williams in Super 14 but Foster said that can change very quickly. He also said the flyer has "great strength numbers", which proves he has a great training base. it was one of the elements that attracted him to Nanai-Williams.

"He has a high skill-set. His passing and catching is already at a good level. As a person he has worked really hard on his game. He does a lot of extras with Lelia at Counties ... and physically he is a good athlete."

Before we finish, Nanai-Williams has a dirty little confession. He has emigrated. North.

"I moved out of Manurewa but my heart will always be there. My mates are giving me grief about moving away from 'Real'. I live across the bridge now. Harbour. I had no choice," says the displaced Nanai-Williams, smiling.