Ali Williams praises Nottingham after All Black's stint in Championship

Ali Williams praises Nottingham after All Black's stint in Championship

All Blacks lock Ali Williams has given the standard of rugby in the Championship a vote of confidence.

Ali Williams played his first full game in two years for Nottingham Photo: GETTY IMAGES

By Paul Bolton 12:52PM GMT 26 Jan 2011

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Williams completed a month-long loan spell with Nottingham by playing his first full match in two years in the 37-8 victory over Rotherham at Meadow Lane on Tuesday.

The 29 year-old, who has 61 caps, has had three Achilles tendon operations in two years, and opted for a stint in England's second tier to regain form and fitness ahead of a Super 15 season with Auckland Blues, which Williams hopes will lead to him reclaiming his New Zealand place for the World Cup.

Williams gradually built up his game time from a nervous 20 minutes as a replacement against Moseley to a confident 80 minutes against Rotherham but admitted his four-match spell with Nottingham was tougher than he anticipated.

"I've thoroughly enjoyed my time here but it blew my expectations out of the water," Williams said. "I've discovered that Nottingham people are very accommodating and that they have a great group of guys at this club and that rugby is alive and well in Nottingham.

"The standard of rugby in England is also a lot better than many people think. The ability of some of these kids to play rugby is quite outstanding. English rugby is in a good position right now in terms of world status."

Wiliams's next target is to re-establish himself as a Blues regular having suffered a recurrence of his Achilles problem only three minutes into their first pre-season friendly last year.

"I have got over the mental side of things and proved that I can last 80 minutes," he said. "But I am still at the base of the mountain and it's a long way to the top.

"But the idea of coming here was to get used to playing rugby again at a lower level and to get rid of the mental baggage that went with being injured for so long."

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