In our ongoing 1995 World Cup anniversary content series, we pay tribute to Chester Williams, one of the five fallen heroes from the iconic title decider at Ellis Park that took place 30 years ago.
Certainly, when it comes to legendary former Springboks, Williams stands tall as one of the true icons of the game who transcended sport and politics and became a beacon of hope for so many.
You can find part one here and part two here in this ongoing series.
Williams played 27 Tests in total for the Springboks scoring 70 points thanks to 14 tries.
He was on the winning side in 20 Tests, while losing six and drawing one for win percentage of 76%.
Williams made his debut against Argentina in Buenos Aires in November 1993 and played his final Test against Wales in Cardiff in November 2000.
Williams rose to fame during South Africa’s march to the 1995 Rugby World Cup title.
An injury prior to the start of the tournament ruled him out of the World Cup, but a suspension to wing Pieter Hendricks, for his part in a brawl against Canada, allowed Williams a reprieve after he had recovered.
He returned to the side with four tries against Samoa in the quarter-finals and maintained his place through to their victory in the final against the All Blacks.
Chester Williams was a man of principle
Later in his career Williams was critical of the quota system employed in South African rugby and also spoke out against racism in the national squad in his book Chester.
Williams’s coaching career began shortly after as his playing days ended.
In 2001, he was Boland’s assistant coach and then became coach of the Springbok Sevens team, who he had represented at the World Cup that year.
He was in charge of the Cats in 2004 and 2005, before becoming South Africa ‘A’ and Pumas coach in 2006.
Williams coached abroad in Uganda in 2007, Tunisia in 2008, and two Romanian clubs, Dinamo Bucharest (2008-11) and Timisoara (2012-13).
He finished his diploma in coaching in sports science in 2015 and was appointed marketing director of Forward Africa Petroleum.
As reported by The South African website, he died from a suspected heart attack on 6 September 2019 at the age of 49.
*Keep an eye on TheSouthAfrican as the remaining articles in this remembrance content series will be published over the next few days
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