Chester Williams
| Full name | Chester Mornay Williams | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Chessie, The Black Pearl | ||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 8 August 1970 | ||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Paarl, South Africa | ||||||||||||
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 8 1⁄2 in) | ||||||||||||
| Weight | 84 kg (13 st 3 lb) | ||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||
| Playing career | |||||||||||||
| Position | Wing | ||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
| Provincial/State sides | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Years | Club / team | Apps | (points) |
| 1991–1998 1999 |
Western Province Golden Lions |
63 | - |
| Super Rugby | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Years | Club / team | Apps | (points) |
| 1999–2000 | Cats | - | - |
| National team(s) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Years | Club / team | Apps | (points) |
| 1993–2000 | South Africa | 27 | (70) |
| Sevens national teams | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Years | Club / team | Comps | |
| 1993–1998 | South Africa | ||
| Coaching career | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Years | Club / team | ||
| 2001–2003 2004–2005 2006–2007 2007–2012 2012–2013 |
South Africa 7's Cats Uganda Tunisia RCM Timişoara |
||
Chester Mornay Williams (born 8 August 1970 in Paarl, Western Province, South Africa) is a former South African rugby union rugby player. He played as a winger for the Springboks from 1993 to 2000. Williams also played rugby for the Western Province in the Currie Cup.
Taking on an entirely new challenge in 2010, Williams completed the Absa Cape Epic mountain bike stage race, joining several former Springbok Rugby players who have also taken on the rugged challenge of the Untamed African MTB Race.
Williams is best known as the star winger of the South Africa national Springbok team that won the 1995 Rugby World Cup against New Zealand and was nicknamed "The Black Pearl". Williams was selected in the initial squad, but had to withdraw due to injury. He was later called back into the squad and first played in the quarter final, scoring 4 tries.
Clint Eastwood directed Invictus, which is about the 1995 Rugby World Cup and how it helped South Africa heal after years of apartheid. It features many scenes involving Chester, including his face on the side of an SAA aeroplane and several scenes showing how black children in South Africa idolised him. Chester Williams is listed as one of the film's Rugby Coaches in the end credits. He is portrayed by McNeil Hendricks in the film.
Williams is 1.74 metres (5 feet 9 inches) tall with a playing weight of 84 kilograms (185 lb). He was the first non-white player to be included in the Springboks squad since Errol Tobias and his uncle Avril Williams in the early 1980s. The selection of non-white players was not common in South Africa before 1992 because of the country's policy of apartheid.
He made his debut for the Springboks at the age of 23 against Argentina on 13 November 1993 in Buenos Aires, a game that the Springboks went on to win 52–23 and in which he also scored a try. Williams was on the Springboks team that won the 1995 Rugby World Cup, notably scoring four tries against Western Samoa in the quarter finals. His Boks career, hampered by knee injuries in 1996 and 1997, ended with a 23–13 win against Wales on 26 November 2000 in Cardiff. In total he played 27 games for the Springboks, scoring 14 tries. His honours included a Currie Cup win in 1999, with the Golden Lions, formally Transvaal Rugby Union, a Tri-Nations title in 1998 albeit he only made two short appearances as substitute and the World Cup win in 1995.
...
Wikipedia