Sian Williams (born 23 October 1990) is a Welsh

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 its m ...

player who plays in the back row for

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...

Newport Gwent Dragons Dragons RFC ( cy, Dreigiau) are one of the four professional rugby union regional teams in Wales. They are owned by the Welsh Rugby Union and play their home games at Rodney Parade, Newport and at other grounds around the region. They play in ...

and the

Wales women's national rugby union team The Wales women's national rugby union team first played in 1987. Wales plays in the Women's Rugby World Cup and the Women's Six Nations Championship History Wales Women have played as a team officially since 5 April 1987 when a Wales Women te ...

. She won her first international cap against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in the

2011 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2011 Women's Six Nations Championship, also known as the 2011 RBS Women's 6 Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the tenth series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union ...

. She is the younger sister of

Wales Rugby League Wales Rugby League is the national governing body for rugby league football in Wales. In 1907 The Welsh Northern Rugby Football Union was formed in Wrexham, but the English Northern Rugby Football Union refused it affiliation as they wanted the ...

international Rhys Williams who is Wales' all-time top try scorer in that code. In 2016, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.

Playing career

Sian Williams was born in

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

Clwyd Clwyd () is a preserved county of Wales, situated in the north-east corner of the country; it is named after the River Clwyd, which runs through the area. To the north lies the Irish Sea, with the English ceremonial counties of Cheshire to th ...

on 4 April 1993. , her official Wales Rugby Union biography states that she is tall, and weighs . Williams has been playing rugby since she was eight, when she played with her brothers. She was called up for the Wales women's under-20 national rugby union team, and captained the team in a victory over

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 ...

in 2011. She made her debut for the

that same year, playing against

in the

. Outside of rugby, she was a logistics mover with the rank of Senior Aircraftwoman for the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

. She had joined the RAF in 2008, and played for the RAF Rugby Union Women's team and the Combined Services' Women teams. That was until 10 February 2016, when it was announced that Williams had signed a professional rugby contract, having been granted elite athlete status by the RAF meaning that she would continue to be employed by the forces while being able to train full-time. It was the first time any Welsh woman had signed a professional rugby contract. She previously lived in Oxford and would commute three times a week to train with the national team, and twice a week to

to train with her club. Following the signing of the professional contract, Williams was re-located to

RAF St Athan Ministry of Defence St Athan or MOD St Athan (Welsh: Maes awyr Sain Tathan), formerly known as RAF St Athan, is a large Ministry of Defence unit near the village of St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan, southern Wales. It was the designated site for ...

, where she could train with Wales head coach

Rhys Edwards Rhys Edwards is a Level 4 Rugby Union coach. He is currently Director of Rugby at Loughborough University, overseeing all Rugby Union activities for both the Men's (Loughborough Students RUFC) and Women's ( Lightning Rugby) programmes. Between 201 ...

on a full-time basis for the next two years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Sian 1990 births Living people 21st-century Welsh women 21st-century Welsh people Dragons RFC players Royal Air Force airmen Rugby union players from Wrexham Wales women's international rugby union players Welsh female rugby union players Women in the Royal Air Force Wales international women's rugby sevens players