Sonny William 'Sonny Bill' Williams (born 3 August 1985) is a New Zealand rugby union player and former rugby league player. He is only the second person to represent New Zealand in rugby union after first playing for the country in rugby league. In rugby union he usually plays as a centre. He is particularly known in rugby league and rugby union for his ability to offload the ball in the tackle and, in rugby league, for his shoulder charges.
He played for Canterbury in the 2010 ITM Cup before being selected for the All Blacks' end of year tour in 2010, making his debut against England at Twickenham. He played for the Crusaders in the 2011 season of Super Rugby and will play for the Chiefs in the 2012 Super Rugby season. He was a member of the All Blacks squad that won the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Since 2009 he has boxed four times, winning all four of his heavyweight bouts.
Williams converted to Islam in 2008, and is the first Muslim to play for the All Blacks. His younger sister Niall Williams is a New Zealand international touch football player, and won gold at the Youth World Cup in 2005 and silver at the 2011 Touch Football World Cup. Williams was in Christchurch when both the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes struck.
On 27 May 2009, Williams made his debut as a professional boxer and defeated Garry Gurr with a Technical knockout (TKO) in the second round in Sydney. On 30 June 2010, he defeated Ryan Hogan in a bout that ended by way of TKO after only two minutes and 35 seconds. Williams described the preparation for the fight as "good off-season training" for his imminent debut for the Canterbury rugby team.
Williams was initially scheduled to fight Lewis on 29 January at Newcastle Entertainment Centre. However, the bout was moved to the Gold Coast to cross-promote Williams's Super rugby team, the Crusaders, and their pre-season game against the Queensland Reds.
Due to the 2010-2011 Queensland floods occurring at the same time as Williams's preparation for his bout against Scott Lewis, as well as his chief sparring partner Alex Leapai being stranded by the flooding in Gatton, Williams donated 200 tickets to his 29 January fight to flood victims. Williams won the six-round bout against Lewis by unanimous points decision. He was scored favourably 60-55, 60-55 and 60-54 by the three judges. A fan paid $3,890 for his autographed gloves from the bout, with the money going towards the Queensland flood relief fund.
On 4 March 2011 Williams made his Super Rugby debut for the Crusaders against the Waratahs, scoring a try and setting up another. A week later he scored his second try in as many matches, against the ACT Brumbies. On 27 March he returned to Twickenham to play in his fourth match for the Crusaders against the Sharks, in the first Super Rugby match played outside of New Zealand, Australia or South Africa. On 9 April, in his fifth game for the Crusaders, Williams scored his 3rd try. On 23 April Williams, playing off the reserves bench against the Highlanders, experienced his first rugby defeat since his All Black debut more than five months earlier. A week later he scored his fourth try while playing against the Western Force.
On 7 May Williams played his first rugby match in South Africa in the Crusaders victory over the Stormers at Newlands Stadium. On 29 May he played against the Queensland Reds in a match which set a new attendance record for an Australian Super Rugby game with 48,301 fans at Suncorp Stadium. On 25 June he scored his fifth try whilst playing against the Sharks in the first finals week of the Super Rugby competition. A week later against the Stormers in Cape Town he was part of the Crusaders team that became the first side to win a Super Rugby semifinal outside their home country since 1999.
On 9 July Williams was part of the Crusaders team that lost to the Queensland Reds in the Grand Final held at Suncorp Stadium before a crowd of 52,113 – an Australian provincial attendance record. He ended the Super Rugby season with the most off-loads, was second to Quade Cooper for linebreak assists, was in the top ten for try assists, and was 13th overall for run metres; while no other centre came close to Williams's off-load and linebreak assist figures.
On 30 July Williams played his first home test match during the second game of the 2011 Tri Nations Series. On 9 September he played in his first Rugby World Cup in the opening match of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. A week later he scored his first test rugby tries during New Zealand’s second game, in which he played on the right wing. The match was also the first time he has played outside the centres since playing for Toulon, where he had a handful of games on the wing and in the back row.
He scored his third try of the tournament against France in his second consecutive game playing on the wing. On 2 October Williams scored in a third consecutive match, whilst playing against Canada. New Zealand went on to win the 2011 Rugby World Cup, with Williams amassing a record of any Rugby World Cup of three tries as a substitute player.
On 31 October it was announced that Williams will join the Chiefs for the 2012 Super Rugby season- with his new contract allowing a “limited number” of professional boxing bouts.
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams
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