Duncan Williams (born 17 April 1986) is an Irish
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...
player. He plays as a
scrum-half and represents
Cork Constitution
The Cork Constitution (CC) is a rugby union club based in Cork, playing in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. It was founded by staff of the ''Cork Constitution'' newspaper. Since the paper did not publish on Sundays, the staff were lookin ...
in the
All-Ireland League.
Munster
Williams made his Munster debut against
Connacht in December 2009. He made his
Heineken Cup
The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...
debut against
London Irish
London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...
in October 2010. Williams also started against
Australia in Munster's historic 15–6 victory over them in November 2010. He scored his first try for Munster in their 35–12 win against
Scarlets
The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup (which ...
in September 2011. He signed a two-year contract extension with Munster in March 2012.
He started for Munster A in their 31–12
2011–12 British and Irish Cup
The 2011–12 British and Irish Cup was the 3rd season of the annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs from Britain and Ireland. First round matches began on Wednesday 21 September 2011 and the final was held on Fr ...
Final win against
Cross Keys Cross Keys or Crosskeys may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Crosskeys, Wales
** Crosskeys railway station
** Crosskeys College, a campus of Coleg Gwent
* Crosskeys Bridge, a swing bridge in Lincolnshire, England
* The Cross Keys (disambiguatio ...
on 27 April 2012. On 28 February 2014, it was announced that Williams had signed a new one-year contract with Munster, which will see him remain at the province until at least June 2015. He signed a two-year contract extension in February 2015. On 2 January 2016, Williams earned his 100th cap for Munster when he came off the bench against
Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label=Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...
. On 24 January 2017, it was announced that Williams had signed a contract extension which will see him remain with Munster until June 2019.
On 1 April 2017, Williams was a late replacement for the injured
Conor Murray
Conor Murray (born 20 April 1989) is an Irish rugby union player who plays for Munster in the United Rugby Championship and European Rugby Champions Cup. Internationally, Murray has represented Ireland and the British & Irish Lions, whom h ...
in Munster's line-up for the
2016–17 European Rugby Champions Cup
The 2016–17 European Rugby Champions Cup was the third European Rugby Champions Cup championship (22nd overall), the annual rugby union club competition for teams from the top six nations in European rugby. The competition replaced the Heineken ...
quarter-final against
Toulouse
Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. The city is on t ...
. Munster went on to win the game 41–16 and progress to the semi-finals. Williams earned his 150th cap for Munster on 10 February 2018, doing so when he started in the provinces' 33–5 win against
Zebre
Zebre Parma (, meaning " Zebras") are an Italian professional rugby union team competing in the United Rugby Championship and EPCR competitions from the 2012–13 season. They are based in Parma ( Emilia-Romagna), Italy. They are operated b ...
in the
2017–18 Pro14
The 2017–18 PRO14 (also known as the ''Guinness PRO14'' for sponsorship reasons) was the seventeenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League. It is the first season to be referred to as the ''Gui ...
. Facial injuries suffered during training initially ruled Williams out for the remainder of the 2017–18 season, as surgery was required, but he made a faster-than-expected recovery and returned to full training late in April. Williams was released by Munster at the end of the
2018–19 season.
After his release by Munster, Williams continued playing rugby at an amateur level for
Cork Constitution
The Cork Constitution (CC) is a rugby union club based in Cork, playing in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. It was founded by staff of the ''Cork Constitution'' newspaper. Since the paper did not publish on Sundays, the staff were lookin ...
. He had decided to retire from playing rugby after Con's
All-Ireland League Division 1A final against
Clontarf in May 2019, but after Con won the final 28–13 to secure their second AIL title in three years, Williams extended his playing career into the 2019–20 season, and he started in the 24–17 win against
Young Munster
Young Munster is a rugby union club based in Limerick, Ireland, playing in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. It was founded in 1895 and plays its games at Tom Clifford Park in Rosbrien, Limerick.
Club honours have included nine wins in th ...
in the final of the
Munster Senior Cup in December 2019, a victory that secured a 30th title for the Cork side.
References
External links
Munster Profile*
Pro14 Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Duncan
1986 births
Living people
People educated at Christian Brothers College, Cork
Rugby union players from County Cork
Irish rugby union players
Cork Constitution players
Munster Rugby players
Rugby union scrum-halves