Williams rallies Wales with history call
Rhys Williams tonight rallied Wales for the final assault in their fearless Grand Slam mission, by declaring: “We want to create our own history.”
The Cardiff Blues wing though, could yet suffer injury heartache by missing out on Welsh rugby’s biggest day since 1978.
Wales will secure a championship clean sweep, the Triple Crown and 2005 RBS 6 Nations title if they beat Ireland in Cardiff on Saturday.
But Williams, who was not born when Wales last enjoyed Grand Slam glory 27 years ago, is battling to overcome a calf muscle problem.
“Rhys aggravated an old calf muscle injury against Scotland last Sunday, really as a consequence of fatigue with the high ball-in-play time during that game,” said Wales team physiotherapist Mark Davies.
“We are keeping our fingers crossed, but there is a good deal of uncertainty regarding his fitness.”
Hooker Mefin Davies (leg) and replacement wing Hal Luscombe (hamstring) are also receiving treatment, with coach Mike Ruddock putting back his scheduled team announcement 24 hours until tomorrow lunchtime.
If both Williams and Luscombe are ruled out, then Ruddock could recall fit-again centre Sonny Parker and switch Tom Shanklin to the wing, but it would be a considerable gamble, given that Parker has not played for several weeks.
Other options would include drafting in players from outside Ruddock’s current group, such as experienced Llanelli Scarlets centre Mark Taylor or Newport Gwent Dragons wing Gareth Wyatt.
Williams admits Saturday’s Millennium Stadium showdown with the Irish is one game he would not want to miss, and is doing everything possible in his fitness quest.
“I’ve been up every two hours day and night, icing the injury since the game, just to give it the best chance. It is still being monitored, and I would hope to be able to train tomorrow or Thursday,” he said.
“As far as Saturday is concerned, it is the pinnacle for us now, but we are relaxed and looking forward to it. As a team, I think it is evident that we play best when we are relaxed.
“We are trying to distance ourselves from all the hype, and we realise that we have got a lot to work on from the Scotland game – first-half performance as well as second half. We were allowed to get away with our mistakes,” added Williams, following the record-breaking 46-22 Murrayfield triumph when he scored two of Wales’ six tries.
“As a squad, we realise that we’ve put so much hard work in over the last few years, and to let ourselves down now would be a major slip-up. We are looking forward to the game like never before.
“We want to create our own history, and it would be great to create some on Saturday. But we’ve also said that we are not happy with just creating that history, we want it to continue.”
Wales suffered an embarrassing Six Nations whitewash just two years ago, and the transformation is not lost on experienced players like Williams, who won his 42nd cap in Edinburgh.
“We’ve been through the mill, we’ve been dragged through the bog, and we are starting to come out the other side. We want to continue this incline, and make sure it lasts,” he said.
“I wasn’t alive to see the last Grand Slam. I only remember what my dad used to tell me about it. But we are in a position now, where we can create some of our own history, and we don’t want to let it slip.”
Williams has fond memories of watching Wales as a teenager from the old East Terrace at Cardiff Arms Park.
“We would get together in the morning, catch a bus into town, go into Burger King – food we are not allowed to eat now – and then we would go to the game and get soaking wet more often than not,” he recalled.
“But we would love it. We’d often see if we could start one of the songs off in the stadium, then the game would finish and we would go for a hot chocolate because we couldn’t go for a pint, get back on the bus and go home.
“I’ve got real fond memories of those East Terrace days. A lot of my friends went up to Scotland last weekend, and they all wore Scott Johnson (Wales skills coach) masks, and as we were going around the pitch, I saw them all.
“There were 16 of my friends there, and it makes you feel in a privileged position that they were supporting me.
“Apart from the masks, they all had wooden spoons as well that they had painted the English rose on!
“It just shows the passion of Welsh supporters and how they will follow us, 40,000 of them in Scotland who made an away game feel like a home game. It was phenomenal.”
