Marlan Yarde would be top signing says Tom Williams

Tom Williams says speculation linking Marland Yarde with a move to Harlequins is a positive sign of ambition and would  welcome his arrival.
England flyer Yarde has been offered generous terms to remain at London Irish but may opt to move, with the Stoop outfit believed to be amongst his suitors.
But long-serving Williams is receptive, telling The Rugby Paper: “That would be a great signing, wouldn’t it? Not for me as a wing, but for the club.
“I’m all for clubs being ambitious and trying to sign good players – and from what I’ve seen of Marland Yarde, he’s a very good player. If the rumours are true, it’ll mean I’ve got to up my game even more.
“Teams will always be in the market for players and you’ve got to stay competitive. With French and Irish teams enjoying good backing, finance is certainly a pull, but we need to attract the best players to compete.
“The club has a good ethos in that they want to recruit young English players and have English players in the side, supplemented by world class players like Nick Evans and Mo Fa’asavalu.
“If Marland did come it would increase competition. But I’ve still got a lot to offer and feel I’m the best I’ve ever been.”
Williams, 30, is a fighter who demonstrated enormous strength of character by battling back from the ‘Bloodgate’ fiasco of 2009.
Lesser men would have crumbled, but Williams says: “It was a tough time and I had two options: giving up or getting up.
“I got up and got back on with it and hopefully I’ve changed the perceptions of people closest to me – and those further away.
“Hopefully people will realise that I’m not a cheat; that I’m actually a nice bloke and I made a mistake.
“I still get some banter and you expect that, but I try to respond with good humour. What else can you do? If you didn’t you’d end up burying yourself in sand and worrying too much.”
Contracted to Harlequins until 2015, Williams made his first team debut in 2004 and has 207 appearances to his name. The clock might be ticking, but Williams wants to see out his playing days at the Stoop.
“That’s 100 per cent my ambition,” he says. “I live up the road and love the atmosphere here. We train hard, work hard and party hard – and, most importantly, we’re ambitious.
“It’s the sort of environment you want to be in and hopefully I can carve out a niche so (rugby director) Conor O’Shea wants to keep me.”
Saracens and Northampton have created daylight in the Premiership play-off race, leaving Quins amongst a chasing pack of six in fourth.
Williams adds: “It’s going to take hard graft to stay there, but do we care who we play in the play-offs? No.
“We just want to give ourselves an opportunity in the shoot-out, then it’s cup rugby. I’m greedy, I’d like more silverware.”
NEALE HARVEY