The Harlequins winger Tom Williams has announced his retirement from full-time rugby after 13 years as a player with the Premiership club. He will join the club’s coaching set-up to oversee the development of academy talent.
Williams joined Harlequins from their academy, and was part of the side that recovered from relegation in 2005 to win the European Challenge Cup in 2011 and the Premiership a year later. He scored 65 tries in 214 appearances for Quins.
In a statement released by Quins, Williams said: “Time and injury have caught up with me over the last two years and whilst I may have one or two regrets, I can look back on my career with Harlequins with immense pride. Winning the Premiership final and Nick Evans’ late, late drop goal against Stade Français are two of many memories that I will hold on to and treasure forever.
“It says something about a club when players want to stay for their whole careers and I am so indebted for all the support I have received from the players, coaches, staff and supporters that has allowed me to do this.”
More controversially, Williams was also at the centre of the bloodgate scandal in 2009, when he was banned for a year for using blood capsules to feign an injury that enabled Quins to make a tactical substitution and bring on Nick Evans during a Heineken Cup quarter-final against Leicester. Williams’ ban was reduced to four months on appeal, after he decided to “come clean” and reveal the role of senior club officials in trying to keep details of the scandal hidden.
The then Quins rugby director Dean Richards received a three-year worldwide suspension and the physiotherapist Steph Brennan was banned for two years.
However, Williams has continued to serve the club and remains well regarded, mentoring some of Harlequins’ most promising talents. Quins’ director of rugby, Conor O’Shea, added: “Tom is remaining proof that rugby doesn’t have to be about size; he has one of the best rugby brains there is. His ability to know where to stand in defence and his lines of running in attack remain an on pitch rugby education to anyone.”
