Ali Williams down but not out

BY DAVID LONG

Graham Henry will offer Ali Williams a place in the All Blacks back room staff while he recovers from his ruptured Achilles.

The 61-test All Black suffered a cruel blow on Friday night playing in a pre-season game against the Chiefs by snapping his Achilles tendon four minutes into the match.

Henry was on the phone to Williams that night and visited him at his Auckland house the following day.

Yesterday Henry said he would like Williams to stay involved in rugby while he recuperates, believing that this will help him when he returns to the field.

''Having an involvement in the game will be helpful because he wouldn't have played for 18 months and the game moves on,'' Henry told Sunday News.

'It's important to be as current as possible, be on the job and be up to date as much as you can.

"Some involvement like that will be helpful and I'll certainly try to get him involved in some of the research for the All Blacks as far as the lineout is concerned.

"He may be helpful to the Blues franchise,'' Henry added.

"I don't want to put words in other people's mouths because Pat (Lam) needs to make that decision. But he could be very helpful in that regard.

"But it's a decision Ali has to make and hopefully he can get support from other people, if that's what he wants to do.''

Henry said Williams was gutted with the injury, especially after suffering a similar problem last year.

"He was devastated,'' the All Blacks boss said.

"He's gone through a year without any rugby and worked very hard to come back.

"It's bad enough doing it once but to do it twice is horrendous. But it's a mark of the man that he's very keen to get it right and get back on the rugby field.

"A lot of people would throw their arms up and say 'what's the point?'

"But he is keen to give it his best shot, which he will and hopefully we'll see him at some time during the year.''

- © Fairfax NZ News