Tlisted below are few other people higher positioned to move judgment at the precariousness of existence as a rugby participant in the United Kingdom than the Ospreys fly-half Owen Williams. In just a little over six months he has damaged his thumb, been made redundant, stepped immediately into the frying pan this is Welsh regional rugby, develop into a father and made his first global get started, right through the Six Nations. Most avid gamers pass their whole careers experiencing much less.
Williams can also be forgiven for sounding just a little weary as he displays at the occasions of this season. On the never-ending days spent convalescing from his harm, gazing the choice of Worcester avid gamers coaching in combination dwindle because the fortunate ones picked up provides at different golf equipment. On becoming a member of the Ospreys as harm duvet and generating any such shape to make Warren Gatland consider, the entire whilst seeing teammates pushed to the edge by way of uncertainty over their futures introduced out by way of the dispute that got here to a head within the week in opposition to Wales England – the very fit the place Williams wore the nationwide No 10 jersey for the primary time.
“There are still some really good players who don’t have jobs. Rugby is the worst I’ve seen it since I’ve been a professional player,” says Williams, speaking as someone who has been professional for 12 years, in two separate spells in Wales, one in Japan and three in England, with Gloucester , Leicester and Worcester. “It’s just unfortunate with the global landscape of rugby and the lack of money, there’s a lot of players on the market. I’ve never seen it like this in professional rugby.”
If that paints a bleak picture of the British game, Williams has nothing but gratitude for the Ospreys picking him up as he had demonstrated his fitness after playing for the Barbarians in the autumn.
For Gatland, too, given he had gone more than five years without a Wales appearance before the Six Nations. “It has probably been the most difficult season of my career but I’ve got a job, I’m enjoying it at the Ospreys, I’m healthy, I’m in a good spot and my family is healthy. If you had told me six months ago that [starting against England] would have happened I’d have laughed at you.”
Williams is on a short-term deal with the Ospreys as injury cover – he hopes to have the longer-term future sorted out in the next couple of weeks – but the plight of Worcester gives him a unique perspective inside the dressing room as he has gone “out of the frying pan and into the fire”.
“That’s the exact phrase I use in meetings,” he says. “I’ve been out of this for seven or eight seasons because I’ve been across the border. I’ve heard of things going on but haven’t really experienced it first-hand. It has been messy and it’s an accumulation of things that have gone on for years. Boys are at the end of their tether. I think people don’t really see the stress behind the scenes. Boys looking for jobs now, and they’re not going to get paid in a couple of months. It’s ruthless.
“There’s a lot of dark humor that goes on. If you don’t laugh, you cry. It is really stressful for some people and it’s not nice to see. Some boys are starting to sort contracts at the minute, so there is a positive, but there is less funding for the regions so there will be a lot of boys missing out. Cardiff have come out and publicly said they are in a bad spot, so there will be a lot of good players without jobs and it’s sad to see.”
Fatherhood has also given Williams a “kick up the backside”, providing him with a “new why”, and, although he was not taking his career for granted before this season, the events of the past few months have given him a greater appreciation. . He also reserves special praise for the Worcester Women’s strength and conditioning coach, Josie Symonds, and the physiotherapist Lucy Berry for “keeping him on the straight and narrow” in the aftermath of the Warriors’ demise.
“As the weeks went on there were less and less boys using the gym and the training facilities and motivation was quite difficult at that time,” says Williams. “It used to be difficult. Wasps went underneath round the similar time, there have been avid gamers from the former yr nonetheless searching for new gigs, so there have been over 100 avid gamers available on the market searching for jobs and there are handiest such a lot of spots to be had. You’re virtually looking ahead to avid gamers to get injured so you’ll be able to pass as harm duvet, it isn’t excellent.
“I used to be thankful that somebody gave me a possibility and I simply sought after to not take it without any consideration and take hold of it with each palms. I think like I’ve performed that, I think like I’ve given the Ospreys one thing again.
It turns out the entire extra spectacular that this season the Ospreys have reached the knockout phases of the Champions Cup for the primary time since 2010. They have performed so the onerous approach – beating Montpellier at house and away prior to a dramatic victory at Leicester – and feature been rewarded with a go back and forth to the three-time champions Saracens on Sunday afternoon.
“We’ve not anything to lose truly, going up there. They’re at house, they have were given numerous historical past within the festival, so the drive is on them. We’ve were given to provide it a excellent shot and confidently break and take hold of and get out of there,” says Williams. “We’ve were given a excellent squad right here, numerous trust, avid gamers who dig in for each and every different. You paintings onerous for each and every different and excellent issues occur.