Williams in Habana's 'dream team'
Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:31
Elementary my dear Luke Watson, says Shane Williams
Welsh superstar Shane Williams, one of the five finalists for the International Rugby Board (IRB) Player of the Year award, has revealed that it is at the insistence of Springbok rival Bryan Habana that he will make his Barbarians debut in the glittering Olympic Centenary match against Australia at Wembley on December 3.
The Western Mail reports that Habana, the 2007 IRB Player of the Year, made a special request for Williams to be included in a scintillating line-up of global greats when he accepted his invitation and even suggested swapping wings so the Welsh maestro could be accommodated.
Habana told Barbarians officials he had played against Williams so many times at international level, but never alongside him.
Williams and Habana will line up on the wings, relegating a certain Joe Rokocoko to the replacements' bench.
Habana's prompting persuaded chiefs of the world's most famous invitation club to seek permission from Ospreys bigwig Mike Cuddy for Williams' release for the Wednesday night fixture – the first union match to be staged at the new Wembley and expected to attract a bumper 90,000 capacity crowd.
Cuddy secured it from the EDF Energy Cup holders' Elite Performance Director Andrew Hore despite the Ospreys hosting Italian club Treviso in the Heineken Cup three days later.
Williams is hot favourite to succeed Habana as the IRB Player of the Year at a lavish bash in London on November 23.
And the Habana-inspired Barbarians were determined Wales' record try-scorer makes what could be the only appearance of his career for them in their biggest match in years.
The attraction of playing at world-famous Wembley has lured stars such as Habana, Richie McCaw, Schalk Burger, Rokocoko,Jean de Villiers, Bakkies Botha, Fourie du Preez, Percy Montgomery and Carl Hayman to the Barbarians cause with others set to follow.
Williams is among the names they have yet to officially announce.
The Barbarians switched the fixture with the Wallabies to midweek to enable Wales to face Matt Giteau and company at the Millennium Stadium the previous weekend.
That means Williams could to go head-to-head with Aussie powerhouse dangerman Lote Tuqiri twice in the space of five days.
Habana's extraordinary request highlights Williams' standing in the world game and came despite the Welsh wonder revealing in an extract, published by the Western Mail earlier this week, from his autobiography that the pair had a furious bust-up during Wales' mid-year Test series in South Africa.
"I even started abusing Habana. He came across to defend my side of the field, just as my anger was coming to the boil," wrote Williams in his book My Story.
"I began shouting at him, 'Mismatch, mismatch!' I continued by shouting at our players, 'Just give me the ball. I've got him easy. No problem!'
"He didn't take kindly to it. 'Ah, stuff you,' he yelled back at me. I guess I just wanted the ball.
"I just wanted to put one over on Bryan Habana.
"He wasn't very happy, but afterwards we had a laugh and a joke about it. In rugby, there is an understanding between players that passions can rise on the field and lead to a few verbals.
"I hope Bryan doesn't think any worse – if it's any consolation, I only behaved like that because of the respect I have for him."
Habana's action in ensuring Williams got an invite for the Olympic Centenary match shows the respect is mutual.
Jake White, the architect of South Africa lifting the World Cup last year, will coach the Barbarians in a game which celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Olympic Games first being held in London in 1908.
