Young Gun: Johnny Williams – London Irish centre

It has been a busy summer for Johnny Williams but the centre is eager to kick start his senior career with London Irish.
The youngster started pre-season with the Exiles as soon as he finished school but early August international duties came calling and he flew to South Africa for a three-match tour with England U18s.
On his return, new London Irish head coach Tom Coventry was keen to see what Williams had to offer and he took him to Cork for their first pre-season game against Munster.
Back-to-back fixtures against Harlequins followed and Williams reveals it was a huge eye opener.
“Pre-season has been very long and tough but it’s been good to get involved in this environment with a lot of experienced players,” he told The Rugby Paper.
“The tour to South Africa was very good as it broke up my summer and gave me game-time before the warm-ups started with Irish.
“Training every day at this intensity is something I’ve got to get used to and playing in the warm-ups also opened my eyes about what’s required to cut it at this level.
“I was lucky to come off the bench in all three pre-season games for the first team and the speed of the game was the most striking thing for me.
“It’s a lot quicker and you’ve got to make decisions a lot faster when you get the ball. There’s no room for mistakes at this level so I’m making sure I’m working hard on my basics like catching and passing.
“Getting more aggressive in the contact area is another thing I’m working hard on. Making sure I’m getting low enough when I go clearing out at the breakdown is key to be efficient.”
Williams has been with London Irish for four years now after they spotted him at a Berkshire trial when he was 14.
He was part of their Silver group for two seasons after that before joining their affiliated college, St Paul’s, which he helped reach two AASE semi-finals.
“Being involved with St Paul’s put me in the best conditions for a professional career. We pretty much trained every day there so it gave me a good platform before being signed up in the senior academy.
“We were very unlucky to miss out on the final for the past two seasons. We had a very good squad and we should have gone further. Still, it’s something I look back on with pride.
“I’m dual-registered with Henley so I’ll be starting to play for them fairly soon as the Premiership is about to start.
“It’ll be good for me to play in the National League One to get to grips with senior rugby on a weekly basis. They’re just coming up a league but they want to finish in the top six so I hope I can help them achieve that.
“It’ll also give me an opportunity to show the coaches at Irish how I play and maybe give me a chance to make my competitive debut for them this season.”