Rugby League World Cup 2013: Sonny Bill Williams determined to rule the ...

It is this freakish quality which champions New Zealand will be desperate to

see as they seek to repeat their unexpected victory over the Kangaroos in

the 2008 final which left Australia, holders of the cup for 33 years,

stunned.

Again, Australia are odds-on favourites, having lost just one of their

subsequent 11 encounters with the Kiwis, but Williams, who has had a fine

tournament yet still fancies he has one monumental game left in him, is the

most likely game changer.

Certainly, he is riding on a wave of emotion. On Wednesday night in

Manchester, he was reduced to tears after his Kiwi team-mates performed an

impromptu haka in his honour when he was announced as International Player

of the Year.

It felt to Williams like confirmation that he had perhaps finally won back the

respect of the sport five years since his infamous walkout from the NRL’s

Canterbury Bulldogs to pursue a union career in France.

“I wasn’t really teary until I saw the boys do the haka. That means the world

to me. All I want is respect and I felt after the way I left the game, I

lost a lot of that respect,” Williams reflected. “My name will forever be

tarnished but I wasn’t the man I am now. I’ve grown up. This year, I tried

to get across the real me and felt like I earned a lot of respect.”

Largely, he has done even if he gained more opprobrium for a change of heart

following his original decision not to play in the competition, a volte face

which was desperately unfair on his axed replacement, Tohu Harris. He was

widely lambasted as selfish for the decision but, after his efforts during

this tour both on and off the field, Williams has found powerful defenders.

“Sonny Bill made a mistake by saying initially he didn’t want to go to the

World Cup,” said Hansen. “But people get misconceptions that he feels he’s

got an entitlement to do what he likes when, actually, he just said ‘sorry,

I’ve made a mistake, I do want to be there’. I think that’s actually quite

brave of an athlete.

“He is courageous. He knows he won’t be a world champion boxer but to have the

courage and skill set to win the New Zealand heavyweight title and also to

be voted rugby league’s best player in his first year back, how amazing is

that?”

Williams loves a stage and this will be a sell-out 74,000 crowd making it the

best-attended international match in the sport’s history. Yet regardless of

whether he can conjure up some magic to stop an Australian side dripping

with excellence allied to experience in the shape of Johnathan Thurston,

Cooper Cronk, Cameron Smith and, potentially, the returning Billy Slater,

the Williams odyssey will have more mileage.

His plan is for another NRL season helping Sydney Roosters defend their crown,

then he will commit to union in 2015 with a view to another World Cup final,

this time at Twickenham, before pursuing Olympic gold in the sevens in Rio

2016.

Hansen said: “I’d like to think our selections will be open-minded enough that

anybody playing in 2015 Super 15 will be available if they are playing well

enough. Sonny Bill is no different other than that he already has a track

record with us and we understand he has the mental capacity to play at the

highest level.”

For the moment, though, one dream consumes the award winner in what he calls

his “blessed year”. Said Williams: “I’d give every award back in a heartbeat

just to get across the line this weekend.” New Zealand will pray for the

same.

Teams for Saturday’s World Cup final at Old Trafford (2.30pm):

Australia: B Slater (Melbourne); B Morris (St George Illawarra), J

Hayne (Parramatta), G Inglis (South Sydney), D Boyd (Newcastle); J Thurston

(North Queensland), C Cronk (Melbourne); M Scott (North Queensland), C Smith

(Melbourne, capt), J Tamou (North Queensland), G Bird (Gold Coast), S

Thaiday (Brisbane), P Gallen (Cronulla).

Subs: D Cherry-Evans (Manly), A Fifita (Cronulla), C Parker (Brisbane),

J Papalii (Canberra) or B Tate (North Queensland).

New Zealand: K Locke (NZ Warriors); R Tuivasa-Sheck (Sydney Roosters),

D Whare (Penrith), B Goodwin (South Sydney), M Vatuvei (NZ Warriors); K

Foran (Manly), S Johnson (NZ Warriors); J Waerea-Hargreaves (Sydney

Roosters), I Luke (South Sydney), J Bromwich (Melbourne), S Mannnering (NZ

Warriors, capt), S B Williams (Sydney Roosters), E Taylor (NZ Warriors).

Subs: A Glenn (Brisbane), S Kasiano (Canterbury Bulldogs), B Matulino,

F-P Nu’uausala (Sydney Roosters).

Referee: R Silverwood (England).

Article source: http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/nov/04/rugby-league-world-cup-samoa-papua-new-guinea

Rugby League World Cup 2013: Sonny Bill Williams determined to rule the ...