Johnny Williams (born 18 October 1996) is a professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who plays as a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

for the

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby c ...

in the

United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

and the Wales national team.

Career

Williams made his debut for

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club that most recently competed in the Premiership Rugby, Premiership, the top division of rugby union in England. The club also participated in the European Rugby Champions Cup, European Champion ...

at the age of 18, and signed for

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

in May 2018 following Irish's relegation. In 2019 Williams revealed he had been diagnosed with testicular cancer, and would take time away from the game to undergo treatment. He returned to professional rugby in January 2020. On 14 July 2020, Williams signed for

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

side

ahead of the 2020–21 season.

International

Williams played for England under 20s in the

2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship The 2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship was the ninth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in England by rugby's governing body, World Rugby. Twelve nations took part in the tourname ...

, including starting the final where England beat Ireland. In March 2019, Williams was named as a target of interest for incoming

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

coach

Wayne Pivac Wayne Pivac (born 1962) is a New Zealand rugby union coach who is the head coach of the Green Rockets Tokatsu, NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu who play in the Japan Rugby League One. In November 2019 he replaced Warren Gatland as the Wales national ru ...

, after it was confirmed that Williams is qualified to play internationally for the country through his father, who is from

Rhyl Rhyl (; , ) is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire in Wales. The town lies on the coast of North Wales, at the mouth of the River Clwyd. To the west is Kinmel Bay and Towyn, to the east Prestatyn, and to the south-east Rhuddlan ...

. He also identifies as Welsh, like his father. In June 2019 Williams played for England in a non capped international 51–43 win against the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

, scoring a try. On 6 October 2020 Williams was named in the senior

squad for the 2020

Autumn Nations Cup The Autumn Nations Cup was a rugby union competition held in November and December 2020 in place of the usual Autumn rugby union internationals, Autumn internationals series typically held in the same period each year, as many teams were avoidin ...

. Williams made his debut for Wales on the 18 November 2020 in the starting line-up for the 18–0 win against Georgia. On 28 November 2020 in his second appearance for Wales he scored a try in the 24–13 defeat against England.

International tries

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Johnny 1996 births Living people Rugby union players from Weston-Super-Mare Newcastle Falcons players London Irish players Rugby union centres Welsh rugby union players Wales international rugby union players Scarlets players 21st-century Welsh sportsmen 2023 Rugby World Cup players