Sonny Bill Williams relishes return to rugby league and being in the thick of ...

First, as an angry 22-year-old, he walked out of a contract with the

Canterbury Bulldogs, simply disappeared, hiring a private plane and

following the money to join the French rugby union team Toulon in 2008. That

coined the phrase Money-Bill. (Another misdemeanour coined the phrase

Dunny-Bill.) Then having returned to league this year, he told New Zealand

coach Stephen Kearney that he was unavailable for selection for the World

Cup.

Just 24 hours later, after the team had been announced, he changed his mind.

He was accommodated and Melbourne Storm back-rower Tohu Harris dropped,

without even making it to the plane. Why? Because Sonny Bill is rugby gold.

As Kearney said: “It’s been a tough situation, but Sonny brings things to

the group that we couldn’t ignore.”

Watching the New Zealand league team train is a rather beautiful experience.

Clean choreography, stretches, rhythmic strides and lots of grappling by

large men in black shouting at each other as an unfriendly wind attacks the

meadow. The fields, which double up as the training ground for St Helens,

have not often hosted such a field of superstars. Afterwards, Williams

speaks, surprisingly softly.

When he returned to rugby league with the Sydney Roosters only this January,

no one knew how he would take to it. But he shone, helping them to victory

in the NRL Grand Final and winning the Jack Gibson medal as the club’s

player of the year. To make the reverse-transition from league to union so

successfully, so quickly was astonishing. But why do it? Perhaps because in

rugby league, he gets to be the big fish in a small pond. He played 19 games

for the All Blacks but in the World Cup final he only came on for the last

four minutes. As New Zealand attempt to upset the odds and retain the league

crown they won, unexpectedly and without Sonny Bill, he gets to be the star.

As he says: “Obviously rugby [union] is a bigger sport globally but I believe

rugby league is a lot tougher. In rugby I played in the backs with the

pretty boys kicking stones out wide, doing our hair, and in rugby league I’m

in the middle doing the hard yards.”

He is a wiser man too, than the one who walked out on the Bulldogs. In 2008 he

became a Muslim, the first to play for the All Blacks. He stopped drinking,

and eschews the celebrity circuit, living instead with his extended family

in the southern suburbs of Sydney.

“I think one of the biggest things I learnt from the way I left rugby league

in the first place was that life is not all about sport,” he says. “You

finish at 32, 33 and you’ve still got your whole life to live. It was a big

learning experience and it was really humbling as well. Now I’m very content

with the man that I see in the mirror and the way I carry myself.”

On Sunday night, he will run out at Warrington’s Halliwell Jones Stadium for

the Kiwis’ opening World Cup game against Samoa – the land of his father. He

could have played for Samoa but is pleased with his choice. “I’m proud of

being half Samoan, my father is a pretty staunch Samoan but I grew up in New

Zealand and I’m very proud to represent my country.”

His last question – whether he fancied a go in Super League – was optimistic.

His plan for the next three years is said to be: one more season with the

Roosters and then a return to union, before retaining the World Cup with the

All Blacks then winning an Olympic medal at Rio in 2016. No time then for

northern England. “I’m getting a bit too old for that and I’m pretty content

with my home at the Roosters and, if I go back to rugby, my home at the

Chiefs. I’m a pretty simple man and although this weather is pretty

tempting, I think I’ll plan my future where it is a little bit warmer.”

He signed a few autographs, posed for a few more pictures, And then with a

swish of his cape, and a shake of his just slightly rounded shoulders he was

gone.In the comic books, superheroes wear pants over their tights. Sonny

Bill Williams wears shorts over his leggings, but he is holding the rest of

it together pretty well.

Article source: http://www.scotsman.com/sport/rugby/latest/heineken-cup-row-threatens-pro-rugby-in-scotland-1-3125471

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Sonny Bill Williams relishes return to rugby league and being in the thick of ...