Patrick McKendry: The inspiring career of Sonny Bill Williams – from teenage years in the NRL to World Cup glory with the All Blacks

OPINON:

Sonny Bill Williams’ official retirement from rugby and league will have surprised few, and certainly not the various surgeons who patched up his increasingly ailing body over the years.

The stresses he put his body through and the accompanying knee, shoulder and wrist problems meant his flame flickered occasionally, but it burned brighter than most and particularly in 2012 and 2013 when he combined so beautifully with Aaron Cruden to help deliver the Chiefs two Super Rugby titles.

Jonah Lomu was the game’s first true superstar, the perfect individual to launch it into the professional era, and Williams was a game changer in a different way – most particularly, in a rugby sense, for his ability to offload in the tackle – but he also had the physique, athleticism and celebrity to fascinate fans and continually interest the news media.

He played only 58 tests between 2010 and 2019 but his influence far outweighed that number.

Williams was also a social media favourite and his announcement has been greeted by various highlight packages on those platforms, as is the modern way, and the most striking thing about seeing him in full flight again is how quick he was.

The pace faded noticeably for the All Blacks – the now 35-year-old’s final test was the bronze medal match against Wales at the 2019 World Cup in Japan. But at the 2011 tournament in New Zealand he could hold his own on the wing.

One of his best moments for the national team was during the 2015 World Cup final in England. Williams had replaced centre Conrad Smith at halftime – a roll of the dice from head coach Steve Hansen who always rated Williams highly as a special attacking weapon – and the man known by his three initials repaid him immediately with an offload in heavy traffic for Ma’a Nonu to score in the corner.

In retrospect it was probably one of Nonu’s finest moments too for he had an enormous amount of work to do to beat fullback Kurtley Beale and hold off the fast-approaching Drew Mitchell.

Hansen is in no doubt about Williams’ attributes. “The greatest rugby player I’ve coached was [Richie] McCaw but Sonny would be the best athlete I’ve coached from a pure athlete sense,” Hansen said in an interview recently.

McCaw and Dan Carter – Williams’ teammates at the Crusaders where he began his Super Rugby career – and the All Blacks, were the boys from next door for many New Zealanders, whereas Williams was in a different league (pun intended).

He left Sydney NRL club Canterbury under a huge cloud before arriving in Christchurch via France, and he was never afraid to walk his own path or challenge the status quo. Some would describe him as a breath of fresh air in the straight and stuffy world of New Zealand’s professional game.

There were early controversies in Christchurch – his skiing trip with friends while carrying a hamstring injury was big news in the south – and he was rarely far from the headlines.

During the British and Irish Lions tour in 2017 he was the first All Black to receive a red card (for his high shot on Anthony Watson in the second test in Wellington) since Colin Meads 50 years earlier, and his decision to give away his 2015 World Cup winners’ medal to a young Twickenham pitch invader was a typical Williams’ gesture.

A bit like his boxing career, which he says he will now concentrate on, Kiwis were either for or against it and there was little middle ground.

Farewell then, Sonny. Early on you were an occasionally spikey character to deal with for those in the sports media, but you were also increasingly thoughtful and expressive and your depth of character showed itself once more in 2019 in the aftermath of the terror attacks in Christchurch.

You began your All Black career with messages from the coaches to hold on to the ball – “whatever you do, don’t offload”, you told reporters at your final World Cup in 2019, whereas now, “they even have slang words for it, or KBA – keep the ball alive”.

You inspired players from all ages to copy you. You were a game changer.

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