Cardiff Blues broke the monotony of training ground team meetings to deliver a special Christmas present to Kiwi no.8 Nick Williams.
In an emotional team room surrounded by his teammates and the Blues’ coaching staff, unfolds a diligently planned surprise specially for Williams.
Entering his 12 season in European rugby, the Auckland-born forward has long had to live with having his family on the over side of the world.
Head coach John Mulvihill and a number of club personnel devised a plan to fly Williams’ mother over to Wales, having never watched her son play in any of his spells with Munster, Aironi, Ulster and Cardiff Blues.
Mulhivill explained: “I spoke to Nick a while back and we talked about his mum. He said she had never seen him play rugby in the UK and he’s been here 12 years.
“So, we talked about it as a coaching group and a management staff and came up with the idea of let’s bring her over.
“We organised that a few weeks ago with help from Nick’s wife Gemma. I also spoke to his brother Tim Nanai-Williams, who is over in France with Clermont, and they got it organised.”
“Mike Brown (head of communications and marketing) and some close friends went to meet her up at the airport at 5am this morning. I don’t think he’s ever been up that early.
“At the team meeting, I spoke about how a lot of family members in the group are not in Wales but scattered all around the world.
“Then we played the video message which Nick’s mum had done for him and you could see he had a few tears.
“I said, ‘Mate, she has sent you a gift and you need to come and get it’ and I had something that was wrapped up.
“He walked up to me and gave me a hug and I said ‘Mate, this isn’t your gift, here’s your gift, here’s mum behind you’.
“It was fantastic. It was a really, really touching moment and it’s something the boys in that room will remember forever.
“I had to keep it together at the front. There were a lot of boys with heads down and shirts over their faces. But that’s good, that’s what we are about.
“That’s the importance of family within our group. Nick is someone who is the cultural, spiritual leader for us on and off the field.
“We just thought if we could do something special to make him feel good about himself and the family at this time of the year, it would be great for everyone.
“He struggled for a little bit. He finally got his words out and he was really thankful for everyone.”
