Talented tyro kicks off professional career in style

By WYNNE GRAY

For a bloke who did not play senior club rugby until this season, Auckland lock Ali Williams has made a bold start to his professional sporting life.

In his first start for Auckland last week, he and Charles Riechelmann stole handfuls of Waikato lineout throws to quieten a significant part of the visitors' arsenal.

"We talked about it and I was to be towards the back of the lineout usually marking up on Mark Cooksley," Williams recalled.

The Auckland tactics were a success, negating Waikato's possession and creating the pressure for flanker Justin Collins to score off the back of one lineout.

But it did not start that way for Williams, who had been used as a substitute during games against Taranaki and North Harbour.

On Friday the first Auckland lineout throw was meant for him but did not find its target.

"I should have made a recall but we settled after that and it went quite well," he said.

It has been an impressive year for the 20-year-old Williams, who started playing under-21s for his Ponsonby club then graduated to seniors, where he was spotted by Auckland coach Wayne Pivac and promoted to the NPC squad.

Rugby was not Williams' preferred sport until his later years at King's College. Before that soccer had been his winter sporting code, while tennis, then cricket, suited him in summer.

At 2.02m and 104kg he is a useful size for the sort of lineout leaping he showed last Friday at Eden Park.

"I did not expect anything like getting in the Auckland squad this year," he confessed, "but I like achieving quickly and was confident when I got the chance that I could handle it."

Williams and his family have had to cope with adversity after his father, Rodney, a former No 8 club player in his native England, became a quadriplegic a few years ago when he tripped and fell down some stairs at a concert at Ericsson Stadium.

That accident was during Williams' last year at school, his only year in the 1st XV, and he vowed to continue with studies as well as his sporting ambitions.

"You have got to keep the brain ticking over because who knows what might happen," he said.

Williams abandoned plans to study business at Otago University, choosing AUT instead and also captaining the Auckland age-group rep side last year.

But on the evidence of his work against Waikato, Williams will be travelling south as one of Auckland's starting locks for Saturday's game against Otago at Carisbrook.

Pivac has the sort of injury list, though, which is starting to rival the problems Otago coach Laurie Mains has in picking a side.

Joeli Vidiri (broken arm), James Christian (broken wrist) and Nick White (ribs) are definite non-starters, and the growing-doubtful group includes Tane Tu'ipulotu, Steve Devine, Riechelmann, Robin Brooke, Mils Muliaina and Samiu Vahafolau.

"We thought we were all right after the game, but we have found there were a fair few injuries," said Pivac.

A full-on training was out yesterday. Instead players reviewed the video of their last game and did some conditioning and skills work.