Williams Grows From Comical Ali Into a Seriously Hard Act Alasdair Reid Meets the Player with Scottish Roots Whose New-Found Maturity has Put the Bite Back Into the Kiwi Pack
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Summary
IF the show of solidarity from the All Blacks was all just a touch too contrived as they gathered around Tana Umaga at the New Zealand Rugby Union headquarters on Wednesday, there was a compelling subtlety about the show of strength that followed. Around the same room where Umaga had just failed to provide a satisfactory explanation of his actions at Christchurch's Jade Stadium days earlier, the All Blacks squad sat at tables, preparing to launch the media charm offensive that is as much their trademark today as the ferocity of their rucking once was.
As a parade of prime rugby bloodstock, it could hardly have been bettered, but the eyes of almost everyone were inevitably drawn to the corner where Ali Williams and Chris Jack sat. Side by side again, just four days after announcing themselves as the most potent second row in rugby by their demolition of both the Lions lineout and the last vestiges of the suspicion that there was something soft at the heart of the Kiwi scrum.See the full content of this document
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Williams Grows From Comical Ali Into a Seriously Hard Act Alasdair Reid Meets the Player with Scottish Roots Whose New-Found Maturity has Put the Bite Back Into the Kiwi Pack
The athleticism of Jack was hardly news, but the raw power and effectiveness of Williams had taken even the hosts by surprise. In just 80 minutes, the 24-year-old from Auckland, whose wisecracking ways earned him the nickname Comical Ali, dynamite...
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