Gavin Williams (rugby player)

Gavin Williams

Player information
Full name	Gavin Lloyd Williams
birthday	October 25, 1979
place of birth	Auckland , New Zealand
size	186 cm
Nickname	G. Wammz, Floyd, Rambo, Rocky take your pick
society
society	Career ended
position	Inside three quarters goalkeeper
Clubs as active
Years	society	Games (points)
1986–2004 2004–2005 2005 2007–2009 2009–2013 2013 2013–2015	Ponsonby RFC San Marco RC Ponsonby RFC US Dax ASM Clermont Auvergne Stade Français Montluçon Rugby	? (?) ? (?) ? (?) 51 (50) 39 (59) 4 (5) 31 (25)
province
province	Career ended
position	Inside three quarters goalkeeper
Provinces as active
Years	province	Games (points)
2000-2001 2003-2004 2005 2005-2007	Auckland RFU Southland Rugby Auckland RFU Connacht Rugby	? (?) 4 (0) 2 (0) 28 (15)
National team
Years	National team	Games (points)
2007-2010	Samoa	18 (106)
Status: April 26, 2015 National team: November 24, 2011

Gavin Lloyd Williams (born October 25, 1979 in Auckland , New Zealand ) is a former New Zealand- Samoan rugby union player on the position of the inner three quarters and the goalkeeper . His younger brother Paul Williams is also a New Zealand-Samoan rugby union player. He is also the son of former New Zealand national rugby player Bryan Williams .

Williams grew up in the Auckland suburb of Gray Lynn and attended Mount Albert Grammer School . At the age of six he began playing rugby for his father's rugby club, the Ponsonby RFC. In 2000 he won the Rugby Junior World Cup with the New Zealand U-21 national team and also made his debut for the Auckland RFU national team in the New Zealand National Provincial Championship (NPC) rugby championship . In 2001, 2002 and 2004 he was able to win the club championship of the Auckland RFU, the so-called Gallaher Shield , with the Ponsonby RFC .

When he was not nominated for the NPC team Auckland in 2002, he moved to Southland Rugby in 2003 , for which he appeared in two seasons. He then moved to the then Italian second division club San Marco RC for eight months, before returning to Ponsonby RFC and Auckland RFU in 2005. That year he won the Gallaher Shield again as team captain with Ponsonby and played for Auckland against the British and Irish Lions, who are touring New Zealand . Auckland lost the game 13:17. He was also New Zealand rugby champion in 2005 with Auckland.

After the 2005 NPC season, he moved to the Irish provincial team Connacht Rugby in the Celtic League . With Connacht he also played in the European Challenge Cup , the second most important rugby European Cup competition.

In 2007 he was nominated for the Samoan national team . Since he has Samoan grandparents and had not yet played an A international for New Zealand, he was eligible to play for Samoa according to the statutes of the world association IRB . Williams made his international debut in the Pacific Nations Cup on May 19, 2007 against the Fijian national team in Apia . Samoa won the game 8-3. Later in the year he took part with Samoa in the Rugby Union World Cup in France in 2007 , but where they were eliminated in the group stage. He played in the two group matches against the South African national team , the eventual world champion and against the Tongan national team . Samoa lost both games.

After the World Cup, he moved from Connacht to the newly promoted US Dax in the French top 14 in 2007 . He also played with the club in the Challenge Cup. At the end of the 2007/08 season , Dax took 13th place, second from bottom of the top 14 and should actually have been relegated, but since SC Albi violated financial requirements, it had to relegate instead of Dax.

2008 Williams played for Samoa again in the Pacific Nations Cup and for the Pacific Islanders on their European tour. On this tour he ran in the two games against the French national team and against the Italian national team .

When Dax was second to last again the next season , the club was relegated to Pro D2 in 2009 . Because of this, he moved within the top 14 to the top team ASM Clermont Auvergne . As a supplementary player, he became French champions with Clermont in the 2009/10 season and made it to the quarter-finals of the 2009/10 Heineken Cup , the most important rugby European Cup. In the 2010/11 season he made it to the quarter-finals of the top 14 with Clermont.

Although he also played for Samoa in the Pacific Nations Cup and on its European tour in 2009 and 2010, he missed a call to the squad for the 2011 Rugby Union World Cup in his native New Zealand.

Web links

• Gavin WILLIAMS . ASM Clermont Auvergne, archived from the original onJanuary 20, 2010; accessed on June 6, 2018. 
• International match statistics on espnscrum.com
• Gavin Williams . Connacht Rugby, September 14, 2006; archived from the original onFebruary 17, 2013; accessed on June 6, 2018.