Chester Mornay Williams (8 August 1970 – 6 September 2019) was a South African

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. He played as a winger for the

South Africa national rugby union team The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabhokobhoko) is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

(Springboks) from 1993 to 2000, most notably for the team that won the

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup (), was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in ...

, which was hosted in South Africa. He was the only non-white player on the team. During the tournament he scored four tries for South Africa in its quarter-final match and also appeared in the semi-final and final. Domestically he played rugby for the

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

in the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup () is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier domestic competition, four South African franc ...

. After retiring, Williams pursued a career in coaching, including a spell with the

South Africa national rugby sevens team The South African national rugby sevens team, commonly known as the Springbok Sevens, competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, the Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. Overall, the team has won the Wo ...

, the

Uganda national rugby union team The Uganda national rugby union team are a national sporting side of Uganda, representing them at rugby union. Rugby union was introduced by the British during colonial rule and Uganda played their first international game against Kenya in 1958. ...

, and the

University of the Western Cape The University of the Western Cape (UWC; ) is a Public university, public research university in Bellville, South Africa, Bellville, near Cape Town, South Africa. The university was established in 1959 by the Politics of South Africa, South ...

. He was portrayed by McNeil Hendricks in the 2009

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

film ''

Invictus "Invictus" is a short poem by the Victorian era British poet William Ernest Henley (1849–1903). Henley wrote it in 1875, and in 1888 he published it in his first volume of poems, ''Book of Verses'', in the section titled "Life and Death (Echoe ...

'', a biographical sports drama film about the events in South Africa before and during the 1995 Rugby World Cup, and he also helped to coach

Matt Damon Matthew Paige Damon ( ; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. He was ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars in 2007, and in 2010 was one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. He has received va ...

and other actors for the rugby scenes used in the film. Williams died from a suspected heart attack on 6 September 2019 at the age of 49.

Playing career

International

Williams is best known as the star winger of the South Africa national Springbok team that won the 1995 Rugby World Cup against New Zealand and was nicknamed "The Black Pearl". Williams was selected in the initial squad, but had to withdraw due to injury. He was later called back into the squad and played in the quarter-final, scoring four tries, followed by the semi-final and the final against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, which South Africa won 15–12. Williams was tall with a playing weight of . He was the first non-white player to be included in the Springboks squad since

Errol Tobias Errol George Tobias (born 18 March 1950) is a former South African rugby union player, and the first player of colour to play in a test match for the South African national side. He gained six caps between 1981 and 1984 when the country was sti ...

and his uncle Avril Williams in the early 1980s. The selection of non-white players was not common in South Africa before 1992 because of the country's policy of

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

, and there were separate governing bodies for whites, blacks, and coloureds. He made his debut for the Springboks at the age of 23 against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

on 13 November 1993 in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, a game that the Springboks went on to win 52–23 and in which he also scored a try. Williams was on the Springboks team that won the

, notably scoring four tries against

Western Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabit ...

in the quarter-finals. His Boks career, hampered by knee injuries in 1996 and 1997, ended with a 23–13 win against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

on 26 November 2000 in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

. In total he played 27 games for the Springboks, scoring 14 tries and a total of 70 points. His honours included a Currie Cup win in 1999, with the

Golden Lions The Golden Lions (), currently known as the Fidelity ADT Golden Lions for sponsorship reasons, are a South African professional rugby union team based in Johannesburg who compete in the annual Currie Cup. The team is governed by the Golden ...

, a Tri-Nations title in 1998 (albeit that he only made two short appearances as substitute) and the World Cup win in 1995.

Provincial

Domestically, Williams played rugby with the

, appearing 63 times between 1991 and 1998, wearing jersey number 11. He then went on to win the

with the

in 1999.

Test history

World Cup final

Biography

In 2002, Williams released his controversial authorised biography, simply titled ''Chester'', in which he claimed that he was shunned by some of his team mates in the 1995 Springbok squad and was called racist names by James Small, though he later clarified, "When we were together as a team, the team-spirit was good. We partied together, we had fun together, we stuck by one another. Those other things happened while we were playing against one another in the Currie Cup or domestic competitions. But that's in the past now. We have all moved on and everybody's happy."

directed ''

'', which is about the 1995 Rugby World Cup and how it helped South Africa heal after years of

. It features many scenes involving Chester, portrayed by McNeil Hendricks, including his face on the side of an SAA aeroplane. It also showed several scenes showing black children in South Africa idolising him, although author John Carlin has questioned the accuracy of this as Williams in fact identified as

coloured Coloureds () are multiracial people in South Africa, Namibia and, to a smaller extent, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Their ancestry descends from the interracial mixing that occurred between Europeans, Africans and Asians. Interracial mixing in South ...

rather than black. Carlin also wrote that during the team's visit to a township, Mark Andrews had attracted more attention than Williams as he was able to speak

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

. Williams himself worked as one of the film's rugby coaches, alongside Dubai-based coach Rudolf de Wee, a childhood friend whom he recruited to the film. Williams and de Wee worked with the actors, including

, in recreating the games depicted in the film. Williams was selected to carry the

Olympic torch The Olympic flame is a Olympic symbols, symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. The Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece, several months before the Olympic Games. This ceremony s ...

on behalf of South Africa on two occasions, the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

in Athens, and the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

in Rio de Janeiro. In 2010, Williams completed the Absa

Cape Epic The Absa Cape Epic or the Cape Epic, founded by Kevin Vermaak is an annual mountain bike stage race held in the Western Cape, South Africa. First staged in 2004, it has been accredited as ''hors catégorie'' (beyond categorization) by the Un ...

mountain bike stage race, joining several former Springbok Rugby players who have also taken on the rugged challenge of the Untamed African MTB Race. Williams died on 6 September 2019, at the age of 49, from a suspected heart attack. He was the fourth player from the 1995 world-cup-winning side to die, after

Ruben Kruger Ruben Jacobus Kruger (30 March 1970 – 27 January 2010) was a South African rugby union player. He played as a flanker. He had two daughters Zoë (b. 2002) and Isabella (b. 2005). Isabella played quarter final on the junior tournament at the ...

Joost van der Westhuizen Joost van der Westhuizen (20 February 1971 – 6 February 2017) was a South African professional rugby union player who made 89 appearances in test matches for the national team, scoring 38 tries. He mostly played as a scrum-half and partici ...

, and James Small, the last having died two months before Williams.

Coaching career

In 2001 Williams was selected as the coach of the South African sevens team that won bronze at the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Manchester, England, ...

and ended runners up in the

World Sevens Series The SVNS, known as the HSBC SVNS for sponsorship reasons, is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World ...

. He remained sevens coach until 2003. Despite having almost no experience at coaching the fifteen-man code at any senior level, Williams was mentioned as one of the possible successors to Springbok coach

Rudolf Straeuli Rudolf August Wilkens Straeuli (born 20 August 1963) is a South African rugby union administrator, and a former player and coach. He is currently the CEO of the Lions Rugby Company. He played in the positions of flanker and Number 8, making 1 ...

after he resigned in 2003, but the job was given to

Jake White Jacob Charles White (born 13 December 1963 as Jacob Westerduin) is a professional rugby union coach and former coach of the South African national team – the ''Springboks'' – whom he coached to victory in 2007 Rugby World Cup and the 2004 ...

in 2004. He became coach of the

Cats The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

Super 12 Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

team instead. He remained coach until July 2005 when he was fired after a series of poor results, when the Cats finished next-to-last in the 2005 super 12, achieving only one victory. However, in 2006, he was brought back into the South African coaching ranks as the head coach of the national "A" side (a developmental side for the Boks). Also in 2006, he spent a successful few months as coach of the

, the Cranes. He was named as the new coach of the Pumas, the team representing

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Nguni languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It shares bor ...

in the Currie Cup, on 7 September 2006. He signed a two-year deal with the team, effective 1 October 2006, but resigned as coach in mid-2007. When White stepped down as the national coach in 2008, Williams was again in the running to replace him, but the job instead went to

Peter de Villiers Peter de Villiers (born 3 June 1957) is a South African professional rugby union coach and former Good Party politician. He was coach of the South Africa national rugby union team from 2008 to 2011, after successes with the South African U19 ...

. Williams lastly was head coach of

Varsity Rugby Varsity Cup is the collective name for four South African rugby union competitions involving the top rugby playing universities in the country. It was launched in 2008, with eight teams participating in the Varsity Cup competition and each unive ...

. Under his leadership UWC won the 2017 Varsity Shield competition.

References

External links

*
ESPN Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Chester 1970 births Rugby union wings South Africa international rugby union players South African rugby union coaches South African rugby union players Golden Lions players Lions (United Rugby Championship) players Western Province (rugby union) players Rugby union players from Paarl South Africa international rugby sevens players Male rugby sevens players Rugby sevens players at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players for South Africa 2019 deaths 1995 Rugby World Cup players