Rhys Williams (born 8 December 1989) is a Welsh professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who still plays as a er for the

Widnes Vikings The Widnes Vikings are an English rugby league club in Widnes, Cheshire, which competes in the RFL Championship, Betfred Championship. The club plays home matches at DCBL Stadium. Founded as Widnes Football Club, they are one of the original twe ...

in the

RFL Championship The Rugby Football League Championship, (known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second highest division of rugby league in British rugby league system, Britain (with one team in the league also being based in France) ...

and

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 ...

at international level. He has played at club level for the

Warrington Wolves Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England. They play home games at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. Warringto ...

in the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

, and on loan from

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

Crusaders RL Crusaders Rugby League () was a professional rugby league club based in Bridgend and later in Wrexham, Wales. They played for six seasons in the Rugby Football League competitions, including three years in the Super League from 2009 to 2011. F ...

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield district, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the t ...

and

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

in the Super League and the

Swinton Lions The Swinton Lions are a professional rugby league club based in Swinton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the RFL League 1 . The club has won the Rugby Football League Championship, Championship six times and three Challenge Cups ...

in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

. He also played for the

Central Queensland Capras The Central Queensland Capras are a semi-professional rugby league football club primarily based in Rockhampton, Queensland and representing Central Queensland. They play in the Hostplus Cup in Queensland, which is a second-tier competition in ...

in the

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league, rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League, Queensland Rugby ...

and the

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, England. They play their home games at Plough Lane and currently compete in the RFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of British rugby le ...

in the

and the Super League.

Background

Williams was born in

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

, Wales. He attended Argoed High School. He then played

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 ...

for

Mold RFC Mold Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team from the town of Mold, North Wales. They presently play in the Welsh Rugby Union Division One North League. Mold Rugby Club is a members' run club. They are based at their Chester Road Ground, within ...

and

Llanelli 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 in European Professional Club Rugby com ...

, before switching to rugby league. Upon leaving

Salford Red Devils The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, England. They play home games at Salford Community Stadium in Barton upon Irwell and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugb ...

at the end of the 2023 season he started training as a PE teacher in Chester.

Playing career

Warrington

Williams scored his first try for

in the 68–16 win over

Murrayfield Murrayfield is an area to the west of Edinburgh city centre in Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and north of Balgreen, Saughtonhall and Roseburn. The A8 road (Scotland), A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murra ...

on 1 May 2010, at the ''

Magic Weekend The Magic Weekend (also known as the Betfred Magic Weekend for sponsorship reasons) is an annual event organised by the Rugby Football League in which an entire round of Super League matches is played over a weekend at a single stadium to promot ...

'' in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Crusaders RL

At the beginning of the 2011 season, Williams went back to his hometown of

to play for the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

on loan. He scored his first try for the club against

at the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium (), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium () for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it has a retractable roof and is the home of the Wales national rugby union team; it has ...

on 13 February 2011, at ''

'' 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 ...

. After 6 games with the Welsh club, he was recalled to Warrington.

Castleford

He later spent time on loan at

Salford

Williams went on loan to the

club.

Central Queensland Capras

In 2014, Rhys joined the

in the

Intrust Super Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League (QRL) and is contested by fif ...

London Broncos

In August 2014, Williams signed a contract that would see him move back to England in 2015. He signed with a

club, the

In October 2019, Williams signed a contract to join

side Salford. Williams left London having scored 100 tries for the club in 152 games.

Salford (Second Spell)

On 17 October 2020, he played in the 2020 Challenge Cup Final defeat for Salford against Leeds at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

in which he scored a sensational length of the field try.

Swinton Lions

On 27 Oct 2023 it was reported that he will join

for 2024 on a 2-year deal.

Widnes Vikings

On 21 Jan 2025 it was reported that he had signed for

in the

International career

Rhys is Wales' most capped player with 33 as of November 2022. Williams was named in

team to face

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

at the

Keepmoat Stadium The Eco-Power Stadium (formerly known as Keepmoat Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Doncaster, England, with a capacity of 15,231. It cost approximately £20 million to construct, as part of the wider Lakeside Sports Complex that it ...

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

prior to England's departure for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth World Cup for men’s rugby league national teams. It was held between 26 October and 22 November and was won by New Zealand, who defeated Australia 34–20 in the final in one of the greatest ...

. He has subsequently earned a further 9 caps for Wales, including several games during the 2010

Alitalia European Cup The 2010 Rugby League European Cup, known as the Alitalia European Cup for sponsorship purposes, is a rugby league football tournament. Three of the competing teams participated in the 2009 Rugby League European Cup, with France national rugby lea ...

. During that tournament Williams scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

of tries against Scotland. Having won the European Cup, Wales earned a spot in the

2011 Rugby League Four Nations The 2011 Rugby League Four Nations tournament (also known as the 2011 Gillette Rugby League Four Nations due to sponsorship by Gillette), was the third staging of the Rugby League Four Nations tournament, and was played in England and Wales durin ...

. Again, Williams was named in the Welsh squad for the end of season tournament, and played for Wales in every match, scoring a try against Australia. In 2012, two tries in a fixture against France saw Williams overtake

Iestyn Harris Iestyn Rhys Harris (born 25 June 1976) is a former dual-code international professional rugby league and rugby union footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s, and coach in rugby league in the 2000s and 2010s. He played representative rugb ...

to become Wales' all-time leading try scorer. He played again for Wales in the

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth World Cup for men’s national rugby league teams. It took place between the 26 October and 30 November and was hosted by England and Wales (although some games were played in France and Ire ...

. In October 2014, Williams played in the

2014 European Cup The 2014 Rugby League European Championship was an international rugby league football tournament. The tournament took place in England, Wales, France, Ireland and Scotland between 17 October and 2 November. It was announced beforehand that the ...

. He scored a try in the opening game against Scotland. In October and November 2015, Williams played in the

2015 European Cup The 2015 Rugby League European Championship was an international rugby league football tournament. The tournament took place between 16 October and 7 November in Wales, France, Scotland and Ireland. Scotland were the defending champions. Four t ...

. In October 2016, Williams played in the 2017 World Cup qualifiers, scoring two tries in the country's opening game against Serbia. He was selected in the Wales 9s squad for the

2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s The 2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s was the first staging of the Rugby League World Cup 9s tournament and took place on 18 and 19 October 2019 at Sydney's Bankwest Stadium. The tournament featured teams from 12 International Rugby League membe ...

. Rhys was selected again for the delayed 2021 Rugby League World Cup in October 2022.

References

External links

London Broncos profileSL profileFormer Mold Starlet Rhys Williams Aiming For a Shot at the Big Time with the Warrington WolvesEvans twins named in Wales squadWales look to restore lost prideWales 42–12 IrelandSalford 16–68 WarringtonRhys Williams happy with season so far at WarringtonWarrington Wolves coach Tony Smith signs new contract
*(archived by web.archive.org
Statistics at rlwc2017.comWales profileWelsh profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Rhys 1989 births Living people 21st-century Welsh sportsmen Castleford Tigers players Central Queensland Capras players Crusaders Rugby League players Footballers who switched code London Broncos players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Flintshire Rugby league wingers Salford Red Devils players Swinton Lions players Wales national rugby league team players Warrington Wolves players Welsh rugby league players Welsh schoolteachers Widnes Vikings players