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Why match-winner Kate Williams finally feels comfortable in a Wales jersey
Timing is everything in sport and Wales flanker Kate Williams could not have picked a better one to score her first Test try.
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With the clock in the red at Rodney Parade last Friday night, and the scores tied at 24-24 against Australia, Williams took a pass from captain Keira Bevan metres from the try line and put her head down.
Crashing through a couple of tired tackles, the Gloucester-Hartpury forward’s momentum secured the score and a first victory for Wales against the Wallaroos in seven attempts.
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Given the two teams are set to meet again in Cape Town this Saturday, during the opening round of WXV 2, it was a moment that may well resonate much further afield than in Newport alone.
But for Williams, her first try in the red of Wales is reward for the all the hard work she has put in since first being called into training with the national team two years ago, while still living in New Zealand.
Back then, the Swansea-born flanker, who emigrated from Wales with her family aged four, was North Harbour captain and a member of the New Zealand Navy. Her assimilation into Welsh rugby has been fruitful, if not always easy.
“It’s funny. This entire time I’ve been here, I haven’t felt entirely comfortable,” Williams admitted to RugbyPass. “There’s always the next thing to go, the next thing to go.
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“I’ve been learning content; I’ve been learning how the northern hemisphere plays rugby compared to the southern hemisphere.
“Now I’ve kind of got all the basics down and I can really play how I want to play and fight for a starting jersey. I feel like I’m getting really competitive in the environment now.”
Friday night was Williams’ sixth Test start in 16 caps for Wales, and only the second time she has started two matches in a row since making her debut in March 2023.
On the transition from New Zealand, she added: “I struggled with it right at the beginning, my instincts weren’t what the players around me were expecting.
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“There were some parts of my game that I was really poor at, that Wales really pride themselves on, say the set piece and stuff.
“I’d never jumped in a lineout before I came here and now 18 months down the track, I’m really confident in that.
“So, it’s been brilliant to be able to improve on those bits of my game, but I also think I’ve brought a bit more of a heads-up, offloading, ‘play what you see in front of you’ kind of game to the girls as well. And that’s where my instincts lie.”
Williams credits club and international colleague Beth Lewis and Wales forwards coach Mike Hill with helping her settle into life back in Wales.
On Lewis, whose carry late on Friday helped set the platform for her match-winning try, Williams said: “She’s really taken me under her wing to help me out with the lineouts and other back rower-specific things around the park.”
But it is not only within the Wales set-up that Williams has excelled. Having signed for Gloucester-Hartpury ahead of the 2023/24 Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) season, the 24-year-old admits she thought she “wouldn’t play many minutes”.
However, 14 appearances later, she was part of the team that lifted the PWR title, playing more than an hour at Sandy Park as Bristol Bears were beaten 36-24.
“Having the likes of [England players] Al Matthews and Zoe Aldcroft in the forwards to learn from and soak up all their knowledge from has helped me considerably,” she said.
“They’ve been so welcoming as well. I think I’ve really grown as a player there and have been able to get better.
“I’m hoping to do that again, but just taking the opportunities that I’ve worked for.”
So, Williams is a different player to the one who pitched up in Wales following Women’s Rugby World Cup 2021, but is she a better one?
“100 per cent,” Williams stated. “I think my eyes have been opened to bits, to other parts of the game that I just didn’t have any idea about really.
“I think I could have even been getting a bit stale in New Zealand thinking that I was really good at one thing and actually bringing it to seeing how other teams and other players play the game, there’s so many other ways you can do it.”
Williams knows the hard work is far from over, though.
Speaking ahead of last Friday’s warm-up against Australia, she conceded the teams’ encounter in Cape Town “is where it all goes down and where the real winner is”.
But she cannot wait to take to the pitch at DHL Stadium on Saturday, if selected. “I think it’s a really massive opportunity for our team,” Williams said.
“I think at the minute we’re not where we want to be, but with the opposition that we have, I think every single game is going to be super competitive and I hope I can put my hand up for as many games as possible. I’m really excited for it.”
Can Wales win it? “Yes, definitely,” came the reply. “We’re good enough, we’ve just got to make it all work on the park.”
