Former Harlequin Williams tips two young prospects

Ex-Harlequin winger Tom Williams is now an academy transition coach at the club charged with guiding the healthy production line of young talent into the first team.

Williams combines his role at Harlequins with a player-coach role at National 1 side Esher who take several young players on loan from Quins.

Speaking after Harlequins A team defeated Bristol United 30-21 in the A League, Williams was persuaded to pick out some future stars from the academy set-up.

“In my opinion Stan South has been the outstanding lock in the National 1 league this year,” said Williams.

Outlining just how vital the 19-year-old second row has been Williams recalled how Esher have struggled recently in his absence.

“He has come up and made a really big impact in National 1 and now he hasn’t played for Esher for three weeks, one through injury, two through A-League (games) and we have missed him undoubtedly at Esher, we lost two out of three games,” said Williams.

Ultimately A-League games are a step up from National League 1 says Williams and South needs to be exposed to that level to develop as a player, so he doesn’t mind his hot prospect missing a few games for Esher.

Another player to impress on loan at Esher has been academy scrum-half Calum Waters who like South is also 19.

 â€œCalum Waters is a young, raw scrum-half who could potentially make it out like Danny Care if he gets his head screwed on right.

“But that’s half the challenge with these guys, a lot of people have the ability it’s just a question of whether they’ve got the application,” said Williams.

As for his personal development as a coach Williams is happy for now but has set himself up with a big goal.

Williams said: “I love being at Harlequins, I really like my work/life balance at the moment and my ultimate ambition is to be Director of Rugby at Harlequins and that’s where I want to be.”

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