'Wild Bill' in yellow-card debut
Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:19
New Zealand international back row forward Sonny Bill Williams made his debut for French team Toulon in Hyeres, France, on Friday - just hours after an Australian court denied him permission to play in Europe.
Williams took part in a friendly against Carqueiranne-Hyeres, despite a court ruling in favour of his former club, the Canterbury Bulldogs Rugby League outfit, which blocked the player's big-money move to the Top 14 side.
Earlier in the day a New South Wales Supreme Court ruled that Williams had been in breach of contract after the 23-year-old walked out of a five-year deal with Rugby League side Bulldogs without warning. The player is now in contempt of court.
The National Rugby League (NRL) has asked European rugby authorities as well as the Australian justice system to force Williams to go back.
There are potential jurisdictional difficulties in getting Williams to return, but the Bulldogs and NRL have insisted the player can be successfully sued for damages in Australia for breaching the order.
"My conclusion is that the making of an interlocutory interim injunction will not be futile," the judge said at the hearing, at which Williams was not represented.
But 'Wild Bill' Williams' Rugby League tackling style has already landed him in hot water.
The runaway Bulldogs star started the match on the left wing and got his first touch in the fifth minute of the game.
But he was yellow-carded in the third quarter of the game after he put one of his trademark shoulder charges - illegal in Rugby Union - on an opponent.
After apologising to the player, who hit the ground heavily, Williams was marched for 10 minutes by the referee and cheered as he left the field by the sell-out away crowd of 3,000.
Williams' arrival at the ground was shrouded in secrecy so he could avoid being personally served with a New South Wales (NSW) Supreme Court injunction banning him from playing for Toulon.
The court slapped the injunction on the 22-year-old earlier in the day and the Bulldogs were attempting to have it served on Williams before the start of the match.
Williams was driven into the ground in a car before his teammates arrived on a bus.
Among the crowd were boxer Anthony Mundine and Williams' agent Khoder Nasser.
