A scallywag by nature, big New Zealand second-rower Ali Williams has a serious job tomorrow - dominating Australia at the lineout,writes Greg Growden in Auckland.
Ali Williams has given up speed golf for the time being and placed his Spiderman suit back on the hanger. But the All Blacks second-rower is determined to keep giving the haka an even more animated edge.
Williams may not be to everyone's taste, as shown when he was forced to leave the Auckland Blues and head to Crusaders territory this season after endless trouble, including pre-match drinking and claims he did not respect his teammates.
It even led to Williams being sent home by the Blues during last year's South African trip because of supposed "loutish behaviour".
A season with Robbie Deans in Christchurch settled the restless soul, but there were still outlandish moments, especially before the Blues match when he appeared at a media gathering wearing a Spiderman suit, and then put on the persona of the action hero. But the South Islander has stalled his pursuit of speed golf where he and a group of mates would gallop around a course, seeing how fast they could play 18 holes.
"Nah, you only play that when you're suspended or injured. I'm not that at the moment," he said.
At the time Williams was leaning against a pole at the All Blacks team hotel in Auckland, and when sighting this scribe asked why I wanted to pester him instead of being in France on Sonny Bill (Williams) watch.
When replying that I wanted to talk to real entertainers, especially after sighting him in Sydney during the haka, gyrating this way and that, as if he was performing The Watootsie meets The Worm , Williams gave me a "now we're talking" look and explained his strange antics.
He pointed to his very pale forearm.
"You can see by my skin colour that my Maori descent isn't strong," he said. "So I have to revert to getting it out in other ways.
"Mate, when I first came into the team the haka didn't mean much. But now with a lot of meaning behind it, and belief in what it is, it means a helluva lot to me and that's why I look stupid doing it."
What about the rest of last Saturday night?
He looked me up and down, and said: "Average."
This week? "It'll be better than average."
Why? "Well, we've got to."
And if they've got to, it means Williams getting on top of three Australian lineout jumpers in Nathan Sharpe, James Horwill and Dan Vickerman off the bench.
Williams has been playing against them for years. Asked for his thoughts on each of them, again he looked the scribe up and down, and said: "You're not going to write this in the paper, and they're going to read it and [short pause] … well OK, we're going to smash 'em. I have a lot of respect for all three of them. I've played Sharpie a lot, and respect the guy a huge amount, not only on the field but off the field.
"I just think he is a genuine good bugger, you know. He's good to go and have a few beers with. He backs it up on the field, and so does Dan. He is very physical, and loves to impose himself on a game, which is great. And James, well he is a very physical man as well. He's showing that the more you play the better you get."
Williams also threatens others. Before the Sydney Test, Deans said he was expecting Ali to seek him out in the players' tunnel and rev him up. It didn't happen.
"I didn't see him," Williams said. "But I respect Robbie for the fact that you can have a joke and it's not all full-on. I was fortunate he took me down there, gave me a chance, basically flogged me, played me every week, and now I'm tired. So if I see him I'll definitely be sledging him, because he's a player sort of guy. He's a good man."
Like Williams.
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff