Grant Williams on the ‘stolen' Willie le Roux try and return to green and gold
Grant Williams scores in his first match in three months, while Willie le Roux (right) missed out. Picture: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images
Scrumhalf Grant Williams admitted to feeling nervous in the build-up to his return from injury for the second Springbok–Italy Test, which ended 45–0 to the South Africans.
But once back on the field, he was thrilled to be playing again — even if he missed the moment to set up a try for Willie le Roux on his 100th Test — and said he's excited about what the rest of the season holds.
Williams last played almost three months ago, when the Sharks travelled to Edinburgh in the United Rugby Championship (URC) on 18 April. An ongoing neck injury kept him out of the next three URC pool games, the quarter-final and semi-final.
He missed the Boks' first game of the season, a friendly against the invitational side Barbarians in June, before the first Test against Italy at the beginning of the month, which the Springboks won 42–24.
Williams 'took' Willie le Roux's try
He finally returned to action in the second Test at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday, and for the most part didn't look as nervous as he admitted he was afterwards, being quick on the feed and finishing off a great team try which came from an Edwill van der Merwe line break and Makazole Mapimpi link-up.
It was the first try of the day and Le Roux was there at Williams' side to finish the score if he was tackled, or perhaps graciously receive the ball to record a score in his milestone match.
'It was actually Willie's try that I took,' Williams said afterwards. Still, he said he felt calmer after scoring.
'I hadn't played in three months. It was frustrating this week, the amount of nerves and having to play in a Springbok jersey [first].'
Nervy scrumhalf happy to be back, link up with Libbok
The number nine said he would have preferred to have played for the Sharks in domestic rugby, and it had been daunting to return to the highest level after such a long injury lay-off.
'But happy to get the win and just happy to play again. A bit of rust but looking forward to the next couple of weeks.'
Williams said it was especially enjoyable linking up with flyhalf Manie Libbok as the halfback pair. While Libbok missed his first two kicks at posts, he commanded the backline well and created opportunities in open play. He also slotted the next five conversions.
'The plan was to try certain things and it worked. It is always special to play with Manie, we have a good relationship. But it doesn't matter who plays next to me,' Williams said, explaining that he enjoyed playing with the other flyhalves in the team as well.
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