Jim Williams (born 8 December 1968) is a former international rugby union player and coach. He was most recently assistant coach to the

Australian national rugby union team The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against the ...

. Williams has been head coach of the Greater Sydney Rams in the National Rugby Championship since 2015, succeeding

Brian Melrose Brian "Billy" Melrose (born 9 May 1963) is an Australian professional rugby union coach and former player who played as a fly-half and inside centre. He was head coach of the Greater Sydney Rams for the inaugural season of Australia's National Ru ...

Early life

Born in Young, New South Wales, Williams played rugby league as a boy. He began rugby union after joining the army at age 17. He played for Young RFC, then moved to Brisbane where he played for Wests Bulldogs.

West Hartlepool, England

Williams moved to England in 1994 and played one season with West Hartlepool.

Australian rugby

On returning to Australia, Williams played Sydney club rugby while remaining on the fringes of the NSW Waratahs team. It wasn't until he changed to the back row that he was able to find enough form to be picked up by

Eddie Jones Edward, Eddie, or Ed Jones may refer to: Architecture * Edward Vason Jones (1909–1980), American neoclassical architect * Edward Jones (English architect) (born 1939), English architect who designed the Saïd Business School * Edward Jones (Wel ...

at the ACT Brumbies in 1998. It was his form playing for the Brumbies that led to his selection for the Australian squad for the

1999 Rugby World Cup The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was principally hosted by Wales, and was won by Australia. This was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sport's professi ...

Munster & Ireland

After missing Wallabies selection in 2001, Williams accepted a two-year deal with

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

, and soon captained the Irish club. He played 30

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

matches for Munster, and scored 15 points. Williams played until 2005 when he was appointed assistant coach.

Wallabies assistant coach

He continued in coaching roles at Munster until 2008 when new Wallabies coach Robbie Deans offered him the Assistant Coach role. At the start of Australia's international rugby season in June 2008 Williams took up his new role alongside fellow assistant Michael Foley. Williams left the Wallabies in 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Jim Munster Rugby players Munster Rugby captains Munster Rugby non-playing staff Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Australia international rugby sevens players Australian rugby union coaches Footballers who switched code Indigenous Australian rugby union players ACT Brumbies players Rugby union flankers 1968 births Living people Commonwealth Games medallists in rugby sevens Male rugby sevens players Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players of Australia Rugby sevens players at the 1998 Commonwealth Games People from Young, New South Wales Rugby union players from New South Wales Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games