\u201cPersonally, coming into the end of the Super season with an injury was something I had to learn. I got a lot of gold from that,\u201d Williams told the Herald. <\/p>\n
Tamaiti Williams: “Being a dad, a husband: that was good to experience.” Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
\u201cMentally preparing to put your body out there when you know you\u2019re not at 100%… I love the red and black jersey. I had a lot of trust in the management to make a call and see whether it was ethical or not, and if I was helping the team or taking away. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was stoked to get the championship, especially after last year. <\/p>\n
\u201cGoing under the knife for the first time was a whole learning experience for me as well. Not being in the All Blacks, being at home rehabbing an injury, being a dad, a husband: that was good to experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williams returned to the All Blacks off the bench in the second test loss to the Pumas in Argentina this year<\/a> \u2013 and he has largely retained the impact role. His subsequent start against Wales was his second in nine tests this season, with de Groot\u2019s scrummaging strength regaining the first-choice loosehead mantle. <\/p>\n While impact from the bench<\/a> grasps increasing influence in the modern game, Williams\u2019 role reversal from starter to finisher could be painted as a setback or regression. <\/p>\n Williams, though, views this year through a development lens. <\/p>\n \u201cI started a lot last year, but with my role [this year] coming off the bench I\u2019ve learnt how important that is. Everyone wants to start<\/a>, but I\u2019m a full believer in team first so it\u2019s been a bit of a ride.\u201d<\/p>\n The All Blacks\u2019 bench impact this season mirrors their inconsistent form. On the Grand Slam tour the bench propelled the All Blacks to defining late surges against Ireland<\/a> and Scotland<\/a> but they couldn\u2019t replicate those efforts at Twickenham<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cOne thing I\u2019ve learnt is when you get an opportunity you\u2019ve got to take it. I\u2019ve got it right at times but I\u2019ve also got it wrong. I\u2019ve taken a lot of growth out of that.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like my game is evolving. Earlier in my career, I played loosehead and tighthead, but I\u2019m at loosehead at the moment. The demand on the prop nowadays to 20 years ago is a lot different. The way we want to play the game is a lot different. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been challenged in ways that caught me off guard. There\u2019s been some big moments in games, like the scrum against England last weekend, and also how I can help people around me so I\u2019m still developing.\u201d<\/p>\n Props, generally, mature in their late 20s, early 30s, which casts the 25-year-old Williams as a figure who will feature prominently for the All Blacks for many years to come. <\/p>\n He\u2019s not alone in that bracket, either. <\/p>\n While England humbled the All Blacks<\/a> to expose familiar flaws, their forward pack, with loose forwards Peter Lakai and Wallace Sititi, locks Fabian Holland, Josh Lord and the injured Tupou Vaa\u2019i and hooker George Bell, join Williams in setting solid foundations for the long-term future.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope it goes that way. One thing I\u2019ve learnt in rugby is there\u2019ll never be a time that this team will be together again after this week. You never know what next year<\/a> brings. <\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got Codie Taylor, Scott Barrett and Ardie Savea<\/a> who have been here for a decade but then I\u2019ll sit next to Fabian<\/a>. I remember watching his under-20s for the Highlanders in Ashburton and that feels like yesterday. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a real strength of ours. We have a lot of different athletes and ages.\u201d<\/p>\n Liam Napier<\/b><\/a> is a Senior Sports Journalist and Rugby Correspondent for the <\/b>New Zealand Herald<\/b>. He is a co-host of the <\/b>Rugby Direct<\/b> podcast<\/b><\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cPersonally, coming into the end of the Super season with an injury was something I had to learn.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[743,13689,5176,78056,200892,1195,256,3850,254,50094,4151,40331,200891,79,200890,8741,16,15,47206,4857,3118],"class_list":{"0":"post-656932","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-743","9":"tag-all","10":"tag-and","11":"tag-blacks","12":"tag-chalk","13":"tag-growth","14":"tag-in","15":"tag-lessons","16":"tag-on","17":"tag-reflects","18":"tag-rugby","19":"tag-season","20":"tag-setbacks","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-tamaiti","23":"tag-testing","24":"tag-uk","25":"tag-united-kingdom","26":"tag-valuable","27":"tag-williams","28":"tag-year"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115788986845136333","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}