NRl 2020: Sonny Bill Williams played through career threatening injuries for 10 years
Sonny Bill Williams forged a great rugby career with the All Blacks, winning two World Cups. But the colour of his jersey could have been different had Australia been a little more accommodating.
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Sitting in the hospital wing at Brisbane Private Hospital, Sonny Bill Williams tried to absorb the news.
At 26 years of age, he’d have to retire from sport.
It is September, 2010, and a leading surgeon had given Williams news that would numb the dual-code star: he could only guarantee Williams one more year.
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Williams will not disclose the issue he had – he does play contact sport, after all – but what we now know is that, on the eve of his third stint in the NRL, the man has been playing on borrowed time for the past decade.
So why come back, at 35, when he could have been on the holiday of a lifetime with his wife and four young children in Europe?
“The adventure, the experience, the emotions,” Williams said.
“I love a new challenge, after all I’m a forward and 35.
“I was told 10 years ago by a great orthopaedic surgeon that ‘I can get you to the 2011 World Cup but beyond that only God knows’.
“So, I guess, I am forever grateful to the most high for making these adventures and challenges possible. And only the creator knows when it will all end.”
Not only did Williams get through 2011, winning a World Cup with the All Blacks, he has since achieved feats that will mark him as one of history’s greatest athletes; the New Zealand heavyweight boxing title in 2012, followed by a Super Rugby title with the Chiefs, an NRL premiership with the Roosters in 2013, a second World Cup victory with the All Blacks in 2015, making the Rio Olympics in 2016 with the Kiwi sevens rugby team, the drawn series against the British & Irish Lions in 2017, and his third and final World Cup campaign last year.
Williams is expected to play 20 minutes off the bench for the Roosters against the Raiders in Canberra on Saturday night.
The twists and turns of his career are yet to be fully told.
Williams could easily have played for France instead of the All Blacks, and would also have considered the Wallabies – had they made an offer.
It’s understood coach Philippe Saint-Andre, who was at Toulon but was being groomed to take over the French national team after the 2011 World Cup, urged Williams to stay on so he could reach three years of residency and represent the French.
By then, All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith had already sounded out Williams about joining the New Zealand Test side.
Williams’ manager, Khoder Nasser, had expected Australian rugby to poach Williams given his high profile here, but neither then boss John O’Neill nor coach Robbie Deans showed interest.
“I definitely would have tried to persuade him had the ARU tried, as he’d lived in Australia for 10 years,” Nasser said.
“They never called, so it didn’t happen, and since then they’ve gone from bad to worse.”
Instead, Williams made his Test debut for the All Blacks before he’d played Super Rugby, at the end of 2010, having been given the dire prognosis by his surgeon,
Williams walked into the teams in 2011 and 2015 to win the World Cups, and has finished his rugby career with the highest win percentage of any player to have won the trophy twice, a statistic that is unlikely to be matched.
In fact, Williams’ 90.51 per cent win record for the All Blacks is better than legends Richie McCaw (89.18%) and Dan Carter (88.83%), as well as the two coaches he played under during their tenures guiding the Kiwis, Sir Graham Henry (85.4%) and Steve Hansen (86.92%).
It’s an extraordinary feat for a kid from South Auckland who only dreamt of playing in the NRL.
“I remember as a kid when my brother and dad and I would go out training on rainy, muddy nights, we’d be soaked,” Williams said.
“Afterwards, we’d always get a bag of hot chips, get home and unwrap it and get stuck in. I look back at that in a fond way. It’s hard to beat those chips, even today.”
Across the Tasman, the hype was building around the freakishly talented teen at Mt Albert Grammar, and soon the Bulldogs talent scout John Auckland had convinced the club to make him the youngest contracted player in NRL history at 16 in 2001.
“Everyone was happy for me, but it was strange because I was going to be away from mum and dad, my brothers and sisters,” said Williams, who would live in a share house at Belmore and work as a labourer in between training.
Three years later he was making his NRL debut in round one of 2004.
“Against Parramatta, I was oblivious to the pressure around me, I loved to play, I was so excited,” he said.
Williams scored a try and was sublime as the Dogs demolished the Eels 48-14.
By the end of the season, Williams was wearing a premiership ring, aged 19.
His defection to rugby in 2008 is well chronicled, as are the circumstances around his first return to the NRL in 2013.
“I’d always told Nick Politis that once the five years was up I’d be back, and I’d come to him,” Williams said.
“It was exciting to have won the title with the Chiefs, I wanted to do it with the Roosters, too.
“To come back to a game I love – I grew to love rugby too – but I’d always loved league, thinking of winning and making it come to fruition are two entirely different things.
“I’m so grateful for that experience.
“I left the game in a certain light, so to come back to the game in that new light was extremely special.”
Two years prior, Williams had helped New Zealand win their first rugby World Cup since 1987, but that is not what stands out when he reflects on 2011.
“The Christchurch earthquake happened that year, I was living there playing for the Crusaders, through the whole Super Rugby tournament my grandma was in hospital, I was concerned about her, and then we lost the final to Queensland, they were the big moments that stand out for that year,” Williams said.
“The loss of life in the city I was living in was awful, Christchurch was going through a lot, an integral part of my family was doing it tough, and we lost in the final in what could have been a remarkable achievement sporting wise.
“I made great friends, the Franks brothers (Owen and Ben), Israel Dagg, Kieran Read, people I really admire, they are lifelong friends. That’s what stands out.”
Immediately after the World Cup win, Williams went to Auckland Hospital to visit his grandmother while his teammates celebrated.
The next year he joined the Chiefs, who had finished 10th in 2011.
“They were outsiders, I thought it was a good place for me,” Williams said.
“I had a combination with Aaron Cruden that I really enjoyed, he has the best winning percentage of any five-eighth in All Blacks history, I enjoyed playing next to him for the Chiefs and the All Blacks, that series against Ireland in 2012 was one of the best I’ve played in.
“To win when you’re not expected to win, is always a great feeling.”
He did that again with the Roosters in 2013, and after the 2014 season Williams truly believed he’d played his final NRL match.
“Yes I did,” he said.
“Then 2015, the big challenge was that the All Blacks had never won a World Cup away, if you could do that it would be special.
“It would firstly be special to make the team, to be able to play at that level in the best team in the world, can you make it?
“Then win it in a foreign land, and then go back-to-back. And you can’t injured or else you’d miss it. You can’t take that for granted, none of those things are guaranteed.”
After Williams dominated the second half of the final against the Wallabies, helping the Kiwis to a 34-17 victory at London’s Twickenham, he made global headlines by handing over his winners’ medal to a boy who had run onto the field.
“It was pretty spontaneous, every time I think about it I smile to myself,” Williams said.
“That little kid could have been me with anyone I grew up liking as well.
“I’ve seen him every year since.”
His fourth sporting foray was into sevens rugby, and Williams realised another milestone by becoming an Olympian in Brazil.
“It’s a congregation of some of the best athletes on the planet, and sevens rugby was a sport I hadn’t played, so there was another challenge,” he said.
“Being able to make that team, being fit enough to play the game, and win a gold medal. I got two out of the three (Fiji won gold).
“I’ve been very blessed to played under some of the great coaches, I can say I’ve been coached by the greatest sevens coach of all time, Gordon Tietjens.
“I was coached by Wayne Bennett playing for New Zealand, I’ve been coached by Trent Robinson who already in a short space of time is up there with the greats, winning three premierships. Steve Hansen’s record speaks for itself with the All Blacks, Dave Rennie at the Chiefs and Todd Blackadder at the Crusaders.
“Also, to be trained in boxing by Tony Mundine, I’ve been blessed with the coaches I’ve had.
“I’m very grateful to have had support from many people at the many places I’ve been.
“A big reason I signed with Toronto Wolfpack was that the coach, Brian McDermott, had won five Super League premierships.
“It was a humbling experience too because there were players in Toronto who had made it, but other players who were just trying to break through, that allows you to reflect on how lucky you are.
“I was once one of those kids, I was once trying to get back into a team after injury, being in a team trying to get a foothold.
“Then COVID came and it was so different, we couldn’t go anywhere, we couldn’t mingle with fans.
“And now I find myself back at the Roosters. The timing, everything just aligned.
“It just goes to show, you never say never.”
HIGHEST WIN PERCENTAGE FOR PLAYERS WITH 50+ TESTS (ALL NATIONS)
1. Wyatt Crockett (NZ): 94.36% win rate, 71 Tests, 1 Rugby World Cup win
2. Israel Dagg (NZ): 92.42% win rate, 66 Tests, 1 RWC win
3. Brodie Rettalick (NZ): 91.35% win rate, 81 Tests, 1 RWC win
4. Aaron Cruden (NZ): 91% win rate, 50 Tests, 1 RWC win
5. Julian Savea (NZ): 90.74% win rate, 54 Tests, 1 RWC win
6. Sonny Bill Williams (NZ): 90.51%, 58 Tests, 2 RWC wins
SONNY’S PRIVATE PRAYERS FOR MASSACRE VICTIMS
Sonny Bill Williams will rise early on Saturday for his daily prayer ritual.
Not only will he pray for good health for himself and the other Roosters and Raiders players in his highly-anticipated return to the NRL, he’ll send prayers for those around the world who are oppressed and in need of divine intervention.
Among them will be the families of the 51 people murdered in the Christchurch mosque shooting in March 2019, for which Australian Brenton Tarrant was jailed for life without parole last week in New Zealand.
Williams, the most high-profile Muslim in New Zealand, was alongside Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in Christchurch in the aftermath of the horrific attack and inspired many with his strength and composure.
“The Christchurch massacre just showed me that good people will support one another, that bad and evil exists, and we should do all we can to speak out against that,” Williams said.
“I’m glad I had a lot of good people around me at that time, and got a lot of support from my All Blacks teammates, Kieran Read, Sam Whitelock, Owen Franks, the Crusaders coach Scott Robertson, they all called me, the chairman of the NZRU [Brent Impey] called me, too many people to name.
“(Fellow Muslim player) Ofa Tu’ungafasi was there with me.”
Williams and close friends Anthony Mundine, AFL star Bachar Houli and Bulldogs legend Hazem El Masri spent many hours in hospitals consoling injured victims.
Roosters boss Nick Politis said Williams’ selflessness is one of his great traits.
“There’s a lot of kindness there, when Sonny was here last time in 2013, there was a kid who was sick, and he drove to Wollongong to see him,” Politis said.
“He didn’t tell anyone, he did it off his own bat, it’s a wonderful thing. You get a tear in your eye when you hear these things.
“He does a lot for people and he doesn’t want to talk about it, doesn’t want to show off, doesn’t want to be in the papers for it the next day, he’s just very humble.
“Sonny Bill’s been unbelievable from the early days, he’s such a wonderful person. He really cares about people, he gives his time to everybody, you can even see now watching games, he’s talking to young players coming through.
“He treats everyone equally, he’s not just interested in talking to the superstar players. He’s like that in life, he’s a good family guy.
“And when he retires, he will do a lot of good things for a lot of people.”
Williams said: “It’s important because you’re never too far from being sick.
“If you live the natural course of a life, we’ll go through a period where we will get sick.
“It’s a constant reminder that we’re only human, that this could be you or anyone close to you. It’s a good way of staying grounded, and to thank God that we have our health.
“I believe it’s a good thing for a human to constantly visit people who are doing it tough, it lets us all know our vulnerabilities.
“It’s very helpful in this world, and the next.”