page_title: Sonny Bill Williams
section_title: 2013–14, 2020: Roosters
hierarchical_section_title: Sonny Bill Williams / Rugby league / 2013–14, 2020: Roosters
caption_attribution_description: English: Roosters and All Blacks maestro Sonny Bill Williams on attack, versus the Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium, round 24. Teammates Mitchell Pearce and Aidan Guerra are to the left and right of him, respectively.
context_page_description: Sonny William "Bill" Williams is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer of Samoan descent who plays as a second-row forward for the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League, and New Zealand Kiwis at international level.
  He is a former professional rugby union footballer and heavyweight boxer. He is only the second person to represent New Zealand in rugby union after first playing for the country in rugby league, and is one of only 21 players to have won multiple Rugby World Cups.
  Williams began his career in rugby league, and played as a second-row forward over seven seasons in two spells in the National Rugby League, with the Canterbury Bulldogs and Sydney Roosters. He has won 12 caps for New Zealand and won the RLIF Awards for Rookie of the Year in 2004 and International Player of the Year in 2013.
  He first moved to rugby union in 2010 and had spells playing for Toulon in France, Canterbury, Counties Manukau, the Crusaders, Chiefs and Blues in New Zealand and Panasonic Wild Knights in Japan. He won 58 caps for New Zealand, and was part of the teams that won the 2011 and 2015 World Cups.
context_section_description: On 13 November 2012, Williams confirmed he would be returning to rugby league after signing a one-year deal with the Sydney Roosters for the 2013 NRL season. His return was undertaken to honour a handshake agreement with Roosters chairman Nick Politis. It took over a month before his contract was officially approved and registered by the ARLC; he was "frogmarched into League Central to be grilled as part of the probe" into his contract. Williams's return coincided with the banning of the shoulder charge, a manoeuvre of which he has been described as the best and most famous exponent.
  On 7 March, Williams made his debut for the Roosters before a record first round crowd and television audience; he also scored his first try for his new club. On 1 April, Williams scored his second try in the Roosters' 50–0 win over the Eels—their biggest ever victory against Parramatta and the first time they had kept their opposition scoreless in consecutive matches since 1999. On 12 April he scored twice in his first encounter against the Bulldogs, with the 38–0 result being the Roosters' largest ever victory over Canterbury. On 5 May he scored his fifth try against the Panthers. On 16 June, Williams scored his sixth try against the Warriors. On 28 July, Williams scored his seventh try against Newcastle, but he was given a two match suspension for a grade three careless high tackle on former Bulldogs teammate Willie Mason. On 19 August, after returning from suspension, Williams scored his eighth try against the Wests Tigers. On 6 September he was named man-of-the-match as the Roosters claimed the NRL minor premiership and J. J. Giltinan Shield against the Rabbitohs in front of a record NRL regular season crowd of 59,708. On 6 October, Williams played in the grand final against Manly, with the Roosters claiming the premiership 26–18. Williams later said of the victory "I didn't cry, but it was the first time I've come close to crying." Subsequently, he was awarded the Jack Gibson Medal as the Roosters' player of the year. Several days later he announced that he would continue playing for the Roosters into 2014—the first time he had played consecutive seasons for one team since leaving Toulon in 2010.
  Following the NRL season, Williams announced himself unavailable for international selection. As a result, New Zealand named a 24-man squad without him; however, after reversing his self-exclusion he was added to the squad at the expense of Tohu Harris. On 27 October, Williams played in his first Test game in over five years—and his first victory for the Kiwis—while playing against Samoa. In his second game of the tournament, Williams scored three tries against Papua New Guinea, in a man-of-the-match performance. In the week leading up to the final, Williams was awarded the Rugby League International Federation's 'International Player of the Year' award for 2013; he cried when his teammates performed an impromptu haka for him at the award ceremony. He went on to play in the World Cup final, where New Zealand were defeated by Australia.
  On 6 March 2014, Williams and the Roosters began the 2014 NRL season with a loss to rivals the Rabbitohs; he was suspended for three games as a result of a shoulder charge on George Burgess in the final minute of the game. He returned in round five in a loss to the Bulldogs. On 12 April, Williams played his 100th NRL game against Parramatta—the same club he marked his debut against with the Bulldogs. On 23 May he scored twice against the Bulldogs to register his first points of the season. On 8 June, Williams scored his third try against the Melbourne Storm. Following the game against Newcastle, he revealed he had suffered a fractured thumb and would be sidelined for up to four weeks. During his recovery he was a guest host on the Nine Network's Footy Show and was part of a high-profile delegation to launch the NRL's Pacific Strategy in Samoa. After missing three games, Williams returned against the Warriors. On 26 September, Williams's two-year tenure in the NRL ended following the minor premiers' preliminary f
caption: Williams playing for the Roosters.
exif: {"Image Make": "SAMSUNG", "Image Model": "ES95", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "1304221", "Image DateTime": "2013:08:24 16:06:24", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "COPYRIGHT, 2011", "Image ExifOffset": "2292", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "1", "Thumbnail YResolution": "1", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "29074", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5725", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "63/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2002:01:13 12:06:00", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:08:24 16:06:24", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "68759/25392", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "31/4", "EXIF ApertureValue": "531/100", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "531/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "45/2", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1472", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1104", "EXIF RelatedSoundFile": "RelatedSound", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "28932", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "1", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "13/10", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "125", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4156"}