Snipe Watson wrote:All you ejits who were badmouthing Nick before his arrival.
Here is your chance to do the decent thing..........
I haven't been able to come on here much recently, but was coming on this morning to start a new thread entitled 'The Nick Williams word-eating thread', but I see that you have saved me the bother - when I heard his signing rumoured, I cussed him up and down as a mediocre, lazy waste of space, and possibly the signing that marked a turning point in Ulster's ambitions - I've never been happier to have to eat my words...
![salut :salut:](./images/smilies/icon_salut.gif)
assuming he can stay fit (which remains my only concern) this could be one of the most astute signings of the lot...
I don't think he's the finished article, in terms of what Anscombe will want him to do for Ulster, but that will come in time, he's still at the bedding down stage. I'm not too concerned about him over-doing the harlem globetrotter offloads etc - he's still trying to make an impression, but through the course of the season if he starts doing daft low-percentage things all the time, he'll get dropped. We have plenty of options, so he'll know himself he has to walk the line between doing what he can do best (and not many other 8s in Europe can..) and not turning ball over by show-boating..
But what has impressed me every bit as much as the eye-catching stuff is that he is increasingly doing the 'other stuff' pretty well - he seems to be in great shape fitness-wise, lasting 80 no problem, and he is basically a one man ruck. He's a great player in support of a ball carrier who is a little isolated, because he can tie up 2 or 3 counter-ruckers and buy time for players to arrive. And in fringe defence he is a bit of a wall (even though I think his tackling technique could do with some work). The other thing I like about him is that he seems to have that kind of assurance that is inherent to some guys who have been used all their life to being much huger than other guys - you quite often see him marching round before scrums doing a bit of geeing up and butt-whacking and that kind of thing.
He hasn't been perfect, but I think the more he settles in and gets bound in to Ulster's gameplan - so maybe a bit more discipline in choosing when to pick and go (he just wants to have the ball in his hands all the time, which is a good sign, but obviously if he carries at every single opportunity, it'll become easier to defend), choosing his offloads etc - he can be an amazing asset if he stays fit, and be a genuine contender for a starting berth... which is far from what I expected I'd be saying at this stage - consider my words well and truly eaten!