Harry Anthony Hall Williams (born 1 October 1991) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player who plays as a tight-head prop for

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

side Montpellier. At International level, Williams made his

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

debut against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

on 10 June 2017.

Early life

Williams was born on 1 October 1991 and grew up in

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

in South London, where his father worked as a bricklayer and his mother as a landscape gardener. He attended

Whitgift School ("He who perseveres, conquers") , established = , closed = , type = Independent school , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head Master , head = Christopher Ramsey , c ...

in Croydon along with fellow professional rugby players

Elliot Daly Elliot Daly (born 8 October 1992) is an English professional rugby union player who plays for Saracens in the Gallagher Premiership and for England. Youth Daly played his early rugby at Beckenham from age five before moving to Dorking in 200 ...

and

Marland Yarde Marland Yarde (born 20 April 1992) is an English rugby union wing who currently plays for Bayonne. He has previously played for London Irish, Harlequins and Sale Sharks. At international level Yarde won 13 caps for England between 2013 and ...

. After leaving school he spent six months at

North Shore Rugby Football Club The North Shore Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in Devonport, New Zealand. The club is a member of the North Harbour Rugby Union. Until 1985, with the creation of the North Harbour union, North Shore was a member of the Auckland R ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, before enlisting on an English and sports science degree at Loughborough University, where he also joined the student Rugby Club.

Career

While still a student, Williams was a member of the

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...

academy, but it was not until he spent a season each first at

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

and then at

Jersey Reds Jersey Reds is a rugby club based in Jersey, Channel Islands that currently competes at the RFU Championship, which is the second tier of English professional rugby. Until season 2022/23, the professional arm of Jersey Reds was part of Jers ...

that he was picked regularly in the squad. In 2015, he was scouted by

Rob Baxter Robert Edward John Baxter (born 10 March 1971) is the Director of Rugby of English Premiership rugby team Exeter Chiefs. He previously played for the club for 14 years, 10 of them as captain. Baxter has also both captained and coached the Barb ...

at the Exeter Chiefs who signed him and started his Premiership career. Williams started the 2017 Premiership final as Exeter defeated Wasps to win the first league title in their history. In April 2017 Williams was called up by coach Eddie Jones for the England tour of Argentina. On 10 June 2017 Williams made his

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

debut starting in a 38-34 win over Los Pumas. He played an hour before being replaced by fellow debutant Will Collier. Williams also started the second test as England won the series. He was retained for the end-of-year tests and featured in a victory over Australia. Williams was included in the squad for the 2018 Six Nations Championship and made three appearances off the bench in the competition. At 20 st 11 lbs (132 kg), he was the heaviest player competing in the tournament. He was a member of the 2018 tour of South Africa and featured off the bench in all three tests as England lost the series 2-1. Williams was also part of the side that finished runners up in the 2019 Six Nations. Later that year he was included in training camps for the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

but was ultimately not selected. On 17 October 2020 Williams started for Exeter as they defeated

Racing 92 Racing 92 () is a French rugby union club based in suburban Paris that was formed in 2001 with the collaboration of the Racing Club de France and US Métro. They were called Racing Métro 92 between 2001 and 2015, when they changed the name ...

in the Champions Cup

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

to become European champions for the first time in their history. A week later he also started in the Premiership final as they defeated Wasps to complete a League and European double. In July 2023 it was confirmed that Williams would leave Exeter to join

club Montpellier.

Personal life

Williams resided in

Aylesbeare Aylesbeare is a village and civil parish in the East Devon district of Devon, England, east of Exeter. According to the 2001 census the parish, which includes the hamlet of Nutwalls, had a population of 527. Known for the Site of Special Scienti ...

in Devon and his interests include baking and electronic music. His younger sister Matilda has represented Great Britain at

Water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

Honours

Exeter Chiefs * European Rugby Champions Cup: 2019–2020 * Premiership: 2016–2017, 2019–2020

References

External links

ESPN profileCareer stats
at Statbunker {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Harry 1991 births Living people English rugby union players England international rugby union players Rugby union props Loughborough Students RUFC players Wasps RFC players Nottingham R.F.C. players Jersey Reds players Exeter Chiefs players Rugby union players from London People educated at Whitgift School