Peter Nicholas Williams (born 14 December 1958) is an English-born former dual-code international rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He played representative level rugby union for England and Lancashire, and at club level for

Orrell R.U.F.C. Orrell Rugby Union Football Club is a rugby union club from Orrell in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club was founded in 1927, holding a place in the top-tier of rugby union from 1986 to 1997. History Orrell Rugb ...

, as a Fly-half and representative level rugby league for Great Britain and Wales, and at club level for Salford, as a .

Background

Peter Williams was born in Wigan, Lancashire, England, and attended

Upholland Grammar School Up Holland (or Upholland) is a village close to Skelmersdale and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the West Lancashire district, in the county of Lancashire, England, 4 miles west of Wigan. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2 ...

. His father, Roy Williams, was a prop forward who played rugby union for Llanelli RFC and rugby league for Wigan, and later became a solicitor after finishing his playing career. He worked as a physical education and history teacher, but later re-trained to become a physiotherapist when he began playing rugby league.

Rugby union career

Williams debuted for

Orrell Orrell may refer to: *Orrell, Greater Manchester, a district of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan **Orrell (ward), an electoral ward of the Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council *Orrell, Merseyside, an urban area east of Bootle, in the Metropolitan Bo ...

in 1977. He went on to represent Lancashire in the County Championship, and played in the 1979–80 and 1981–82 Championship finals. He won caps for England while at Orrell in the

1987 Five Nations Championship The 1987 Five Nations Championship was the fifty-eighth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the ninety-third series of the northern hemisphere rug ...

against Scotland and in the

1987 Rugby World Cup The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches (17 pool stage matches, two quarter-finals, the third-place play-off and the final) while Australia hosted 11 ...

against Australia, Japan, and Wales. In 1996, Williams returned to Orrell as director of rugby. He resigned in April 1997. He then spent two years as an assistant coach at Wigan, where he also made appearances as a player.

Rugby league career

Salford

In March 1988, Williams switched codes to join rugby league club Salford. Williams played (replaced by substitute Ian Blease) in Salford's 17–22 defeat by Wigan in the

1988 Lancashire Cup File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

Final during the 1988–89 season at Knowsley Road, St. Helens on Sunday 23 October 1988. and played left- and scored a try in the 18–24 defeat by Widnes in the

1990 Lancashire Cup Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the ...

Final during the 1990–91 season at Central Park, Wigan on Saturday 29 September 1990. He retired at the end of the 1993–94 season.

International career

Williams won two caps for Great Britain (RL) while at Salford in 1989 against France (2 matches). He also played for Wales in 1992 while at Salford. He is sometimes credited as the first person to play rugby union for England and rugby league for Wales, but this was first done by Thomas Woods in the 1920s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Peter 1958 births Living people Dual-code rugby internationals England international rugby union players English people of Welsh descent English rugby union players English rugby league players Great Britain national rugby league team players Lancashire County RFU players Lancashire rugby league team players North of England Rugby Union team People educated at Upholland Grammar School Rugby league players from Wigan Rugby league centres Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union players from Wigan Salford Red Devils players Wales national rugby league team players Welsh rugby league players 1987 Rugby World Cup players