Bryan Williams
Encyclopedia
Bryan Williams, MBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (born 3 October 1950 in Auckland, New Zealand) is a former New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 footballer and coach of the Samoa
Samoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...

n national rugby team.

His father was Samoan, and his mother a Rarotongan of Samoan descent and Williams went to school in Mt Albert Grammar School, where he started his rugby career. He became an All Black in 1970 as a wing and distinguished himself in the 1970 South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n Rugby Tour where he was a sensation, scoring 14 tries in his 13 appearances and in the international series he scored in each of the first and fourth Tests. This was during apartheid, so with his parentage he was only able to tour after honorary white status was granted.

Williams international rugby career lasted from 1970 to 1978 in which he played 113 matches (including 38 international Tests) and scored 66 tries in all matches as an All Black (ten tries in Tests) which was a record until beaten by John Kirwan.

After he retired from rugby, he coached a number of club sides in New Zealand. During the 1990s onwards, he has been the national rugby coach for Samoa., he is married and has two sons Gavin and Paul, who also play rugby union, Gavin plays internationally for Samoa and plays club for French side US Dax and his other son Paul played for the Auckland Super 14
Super 14
Super Rugby is the largest and pre-eminent professional Rugby union competition in the Southern Hemisphere...

 side the Blues before playing for Sale in the English Premiership and debuting for Samoa in 2010. Williams now coaches at the Ponsonby Rugby Club and the Mt Albert Grammar School Rugby Academy.

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