A tale of two Williams

The best finisher in Welsh rugby is named Williams. But it's not Shane, it's Martyn.

The Martyn who has ginger hair and is a flanker and is probably the best open-side in the world at the moment. The Martyn who is in the form of his life at present. The Martyn who almost always scores when he gets a chance whether for Cardiff Blues or Wales. He is predatory, devilish, disarming. The ball will be lost among a group of players and then suddenly there is Martyn Williams racing upfield with it.

Martyn does what Shane does not do as often as he should. Give him a sniff of the try line and he's over. There are no swallow dives, somersaults or celebrations. He dots the ball down, puts his head down modestly and trots back to receive the praises of his teammates. Job done.

Shane is elusive, talismanic, unpredictable but if he finished off try-scoring movements as often as he should he would one of the highest scoring wings in the world. If he didn't fall over as often as he does. If he didn't drop the ball when the line beckons. If he didn't  look as though he is so excited at receiving the ball that he doesn't know what to do with it, then it would be move over Bryan Habana.

This is criticism of the highest order, picking a fault with a thread in the Bayeux Tapestry. Williams, Shane, is a wonderful rugby player who was converted from scrum-half to try-scoring wing with great success. There is no greater thrill for supporters of Wales than to see Williams, Shane, receive the ball in space and with one sidestep followed by another and a startling injection of pace zip past two or three opponents and find an open space. Although the sight of Williams, Martyn, speeding the ball on to a teammate as if it was red hot so that that teammate can score a try comes a good second.

Williams, Shane, may be the most popular player in Wales currently. Men like him because he epitomises the smaller player. Women like him because he is patently a nice man. They would like their daughters to bring home a man like Shane. A few months ago there were muttered criticisms of his play. It seemed tired. It  was even suggested he might be dropped. There would probably be a protest march from west Wales to east if he were. Fans might storm the new offices of the WRU in the Millennium Stadium if the name of Williams, Shane, did not appear on the team sheet.

He is loved the length and breadth of the Principality because he is small and cheeky and there are those in Wales who would not mind being described as small and cheeky themselves. It helps that he can turn a game in a moment. One badly aimed kick ending in his hands can spark a flurry of action that ends with a try.

But Williams, Shane, doesn't score as many tries as he should, not proportionately, as many tries as does Williams, Martyn. Time and again those dazzling feet of Shane's let him down. He trips. He spins out of a tackle and falls to the ground. He drops the ball. He loses his footing. How often at the Millennium Stadium has he fallen over?

Shane is wonderful but Martyn is extraordinary. Shane is very good but Martyn is at the top of his game. Shane is a good finisher but Martyn is better.

No, the best finisher in Wales is Martyn Williams - and it probably should be Shane.

Comments

[Mike Curtis]

Fair play Mr Hopkins, you've made yourself look a complete plum with your lazy, outdated and plain wrong criticisms of Shane Williams. He's got one of the best strike rates of any player ever, 5th in the all time list I believe, achieved while playing for a team all too often unable to be competitive.

Mind you, don't take my word for it. Shaun Edwards thinks he's the most talented rugby player he's seen in either code. Justin Marshall thinks he the best runner he's ever encountered, and the Welsh 1978 Grand Slam team thought only Shane Williams would get into their team, or any era's side.

A silly arcticle that really didn't deserve a response but too many opinions are based on what is read in the newspapers. Still, it panders nicely to your target readership.

[Roger Evans]

just remember the man who matters (Warren Gatland)said he could not remember Shane put a foot wrong during this 6 nations, but i agree that Martyn is the man of the series

[George]

Agree with some of this article - Shane Wiliams should score more often + Martyn Williams is a very good flanker. However, if Martyn Williams was doing what the best no7s do - ie. winning the ball at the break down and turning over opposition ball, then I'd question whether he'd have half the tries that he has.
An excellent player - yes, but people who play the game know that the back rower scoring the tries is not the team mate they'd pick first.

[evan davies]

shane williams is a doll,he has no place in modern rugby and the sooner a welsh coach realises that and drops him for a player of stature will be the day that wales will rise frm the ashes and again be a proud playing side of real men.He has time and time again been ragged to the ground by the english the irish and the japanese too,twinkle toes shaney boyo,Im sorry you are too small and slow now for modern rugby and a larger version of wing is long overdue.Martyn you only walk in the shadows of far better flankers,and it pains me to say some of them are English and some Australian,take your place,its far down the pecking order when it comes to greatness!!!Neither these two Williamses,hold a candle in the history of the great Williams playing name!!!!

[G Davies]

Kind of agree with both sides of this one. I think Shane Williams is a brilliant finisher - the point was proved with the try against Scotland the other week. I know it probably should have been disallowed, but to even get near grounding the ball in that situation was world class; for the decision to come down to a flick of the line almost unrivalled. Martyn Williams is, of course, one of the best support players in the world. But make no mistake, Shane Williams is a very, very good finisher.

I think the problem is that you've picked the wrong fault. Shane Williams does make a lot of mistakes, but he doesn't make them when he's got a sniff of the tryline. He makes them when he has made a line break with the line out of sight. I can't think of a time he's failed to finish a move he's been on the end of. I can think of a whole catalogue of errors in the offload, in contact, in presenting at the ruck. That is the irony with Shane Williams. When he comes in-field is when he looks most like bringing Wales back into a game. When he comes in-field is when, with large portions of brilliance, he does most to frustrate.

[Gareth]

The article is rather pointless both William's are great players.

I do have have a great recollection from the Lion's tour regarding Shane Williams.

When Neil Back was asked if he'd have a chat with a group of Gloucester fan's, his answer was 'F**k Off'. Shane Williams bought a round of beers, went over to the guys, introduced himself, and politely asked if he could join them! They were gob smacked. I bet there's a small section of the shed that's been secretely cheering Shane and Wales ever since.

It's so refreshing to see pro rugby players smiling and mixing with the grass roots players and fans. Just as it shouold be.

[McCav]

Martyn Williams "best openside flanker in the world at the moment"
hahahahahaaaaaaaa what a joke.

Actually- that probably was true until a week ago when the Super 14 started.

[teich]

Both Martyn and Shane Williams are handy players, but I think we are getting a bit carried away here..

Shane Williams does have a good scoring record, but is not really in the top tier with habana, clerk, rockocoko and co. Martyn Williams is an honest openside - but to say that he is the world's best is taking it a few steps too far! Burger and McCaw comfortably lead the way in that regard...with a good few in the pecking order above MW...

Wales have no individual world beaters. Let's not pretend that martyn williams is one or that shane williams should be one...

[Gwilym]

This is utter nonsense. And if your going on about level heads etc how about when Martyn ran in that try unopposed against Fiji in the RWC and failed to plant the ball under the posts - instead going out wide which led SJ to miss the conversion and well, we all know what came next.

[Daniel]

What a stupid, and just plain wrong article.

[Simon3W]

What balls. Neither player's role is primarily as finisher (though if you look at Shane's try per cap rate he's in the top 5 in the world, currently). Williams Shane's job is to make breaks. Among Williams Martyn's jobs is tackling, and the truth is he's rubbish at it. He's brilliant at other things, but if this article were the other way around it'd make a lot more sense.

[Tim]

Shanes agility and skill make him a unique international asset for Wales and a joy to watch. In a game increasingly coached to a muscular, riskless, standstill he is the one player of his generation that's worth the proverbial entrance fee to watch. His finishing is excellent.

[Jonathan Davies]

Mr Hopkins - Do you actually watch any rugby or do you make this stuff up after drinking too much in the pub? I realise that you are under editorial edict to poke fun at anything outside of the M25 but you really should choose your targets when sober.

Shane Williams is an outstanding international wing - he does have deficiencies in his game but they are certainly not the ones that you appear to have dreamed up.

This "article" smack of little more than a lazy journalist who is short of copy and desperate to find an angle where none exists.

Shoddy 2/10

[j lewis]

I agree to a certain extent, Shane does make some dangerous mistakes.But every time he puts on a jersey,whether it be an Ospreys or a Welsh jersey he gives 110% and if every player in these 2 teams gave the same commitment, we'd be watching 2 of the best teams in world rugby.
Wales have had many wins under their belts thanks to Shanes scoring abillity.Many of Shane's opposing wings have been nervous about playing against him and many he has made to look foolish.
In reply to Martyn williams, there isn't anything to add apart from, that he's the best openside Wales has ever had,and thank God he came out of retirement, there is no-one in Wales to replace him.

[David]

If I was a club DOR, the one player in the 4N that I would want to sign for my team is Williams, Shane. Anybody who watched the EDF final last season when the Ospreys managed to present Leicester with a massive half time lead. Come the 2nd half and Shane almost on his own dragged the Ospreys off their knees and turned the game around. Not even Williams, Martyn at his best could have done that.

[Stuart Richards]

But he is one of the highest try scorers in the World. He's 3 tries behind Gareth Thomas in something like 47 less appearances. His strike rate is very high. A strange way to make a point about Martyn Williams.

[Eldorado]

What's this?! Criticism of Shane 'who cannot be tackled in a phone box' Williams...?

Shane's falls are due in great part to the poor quality of the playing surface at the Millenium Stadium (my only criticism of that great Cathedral of Rugby). No other international pitch cuts up as much as the Millenium...

Shane seems to fall over occasionally on the Millenium Stadium surface becaues it doesn't take too kindly to his instinctive outrageous sidestep (aka 'The Jink'), deployed to outstrip defences. On good pitches they always come-off. At home sometimes they don't... which is a shame.

In this age of defence oriented rugby, you can't be critical of a gifted player attempting to break the gain line with a 'high difficulty factor' manoeuvre... just because he falls over a couple of times...

When it's so darned exhilarating!

[Jim Matthews]

This article is with all due respect complete b*ll*cks. Shane Williams has scored 37 tries in 53 tests (3 a sub). By any measure that is a world class strike rate. Martyn Williams has scored 13 in 78 (10 as sub) an excellent record for a forward but he hardly is going to give Shane Williams lessons on finishing.

BTW Rokocoko has 43 in 48, Habana 30 in 36, Sivivatu 21 in 21, Vincent Clerc 20 in 30 and Tuquiri 27 in 52 so Shane's try scoring record can hold its own in that company (especially as he has generally been playing for a less succesful side).

[rob]

Shano does fall over a bit when he tries too many steps too quickly, but his finishing is exemplary.
For example, against England in the 2005 Six Nations, he received the ball ten yards out, saw a tiny gap, dashed in and set up one of Wales's greatest victories, no step, just a great eye for the line and fantastic acceleration.
Another reason why Welsh fans like Shane is that unlike almost all the other world-class wingers in the world, he posseses no physical attributes that allow him to beat players with pace or strength alone. He does have good acceleration, but over 50 yards, Habana, Clerc, Howlett, Pietersen, Strettle and almost any other international winger could beat him. As for strength, well, no need to explain. Yes, Shano's just a small guy with an amazing skill, and it's that that makes him so inspirational to the welsh public. It's very much a case of David taking on, and beating, Goliath.

[Twiggy]

Was it 6 tries in the world cup pool stage? In a below average team?

How many did Habana score in a run that went all the way to the final? I can't remember exactly, I think nine?

My point stands. Shane's try scoring record is hard to knock. If you want to wind people up by knocking an icon's point scoring record, why not start with Wilkinson's 60% kicking rate in the world cup?

[richard jones]

I think this article is just to get us goin' an' might be something to do with our team being selected early and not much for these 'ere Press Johnnies to say about it.

[dave]

I would love to know who wrote this. Shane Williams is without a doubt the best winger in the British Isles at the moment. Only Clerc from France touches him in the Northern hemisphere. I'm not sure exactly how many tries he has scored, but I think its somewhere in the region of 36 for Wales, which is pretty damn good. And I'm not even Welsh!! Obviously Martin Milliams is an exceptional back rower, but I can't see how you can criticise Shane for falling over and dropping the ball, unfortunately as an exceptionally speedy winger that is part of his game - sometimes he simply will be moving too fast on the turn and fall, or being changing pace as he recieves the ball and so the pass is not taken cleanly and he drops it. Come of it - if he played for England he'd certainly show up the less obvious skills of Sackey, Cueto and Vainikolo.

[Promit C]

You make it sound like Shane should consider a walk through his living room where he doesn’t crash through a wall or kick over furniture a resounding success. You make it sound like he just topples over if he starts walking too fast. I agree with Rich Thomas. My main criticism of Williams is him losing the ball when he gets tackled, but as a small winger myself, I know how hard it is to present when you're wrapped up.

[ben]

I bet there is an apt African proverb somewhere which goes something like 'he who asks 'which is the BEST animal?' when confronted with the diversity of the lion and the giraffe is missing the point.'

[Sam]

This blog is a bit silly.

Shane Williams is one of the best finishers in the game - look at the stats.

In the RWC2007 he scored 6 tries in 4 games.

That was in a team not playing well.

Nobody had a better tries:matches ratio in the world cup than Shane.

[Rupert Tarquinson]

A bit harsh on ickle Shane there, I think. I know he hasn't got the power of a Sackey or the Volcano, or the speed of Strettle but his ratio of tries to matches isn't bad. For a Welshman.

[Haydn]

I'm having a real problem reconciling your Bio (on the left of the page) with your content. It really is one of the most pointless and inaccurate sporting articles I have read in recent times.

If that is the best your Rugby intellect can muster, I really would stick to writing about Golf!

[David Holbrook]

What a thoroughly bizarre article. If this were a comment on the Wales v England match at Cardiff in 2007 then it might have some merit. As a summation of a whole career it is absurd. Are we really being asked to countenance the idea that a player can score 37 tries in 53 Tests in a mediocre side and still be profligate?

[Leighton Williams]

I guess Shane must have run off with this particular's journo's missus.

What a load of balderdash!

[Rob]

Strange comments on this blog. Martyn is good but not best in the world. Shane scores a lot of tries and is a true finisher - he had a big impact against Scotland.

[Matt Dalton]

I think what you are forgetting, is how bad the quality of the pitch at the Millenium stadium is. Too often the surface is slippery when it shouldn't be and it causes many great players, Shane included, to slip in circumstances where they would ordinarily not.

[Rich Thomas]

"but if he finished off try-scoring movements as often as he should he would one of the highest scoring wings in the world. If he didn't fall over as often as he does. If he didn't drop the ball when the line beckons. If he didn't look as though he is so excited at receiving the ball that he doesn't know what to do with it, then it would be move over Bryan Habana."

I have never heard this criticism of Shane Williams before. People have quite rightly criticised his below average defence and a tendency to hold on to the ball when a pass was the better option. But poor finishing? Falling over? Dropped Balls? Bizzare.

"Time and again those dazzling feet of Shane's let him down. He trips. He spins out of a tackle and falls to the ground. He drops the ball. He loses his footing. How often at the Millennium Stadium has he fallen over?"

To answer your last question, I genuinely can't think of any.