CAPE TOWN – Unless he manages to somehow save a life before the Blues depart Cape Town, then the best thing Sonny Bill Williams has done during his time here was pose for pictures.
The All Black centre, as popular in Cape Town as any player has been, put in a man-of-the-match shift on social media during the Blues’ visit.
He posed with fans, Cape Town City centreback Robin Johannes and even a municipality cleaning crew. He even slap-boxed, on the pavement, with former NRL (rugby league) star and two-time WBA super middleweight boxing champion Anthony Mundine.
Unfortunately (for the Blues, the injury-weakened All Blacks and the scores of New Zealand supporters in Cape Town), Williams was unable to deliver a similar performance against the Stormers.
He was largely shut down at Newlands on Friday night, making only one telling contribution. He popped up between the forwards to pick and go before offloading a scoring pass for the Blues’ third try, and ran hard and straight often, but with little direct result.
Williams failed to deliver on the excitement that greeted his arrival, and the Stormers went on to record a 30-22 victory. If not for his high tackle on Piers Francis, Shaun Treeby would have been the best performing Kiwi centre at Newlands.
While Williams’ social media public outreach project was entertaining, let’s hope he can be just as entertaining on the rugby field during the rest of the season.
A post shared by Sonny Bill Williams (@sonnybillwilliams) on May 18, 2017 at 1:58am PDT
Look who I ran into in capetown #BrotherChoc I told him he's running on old legs 😂😂
A post shared by Sonny Bill Williams (@sonnybillwilliams) on May 18, 2017 at 1:40am PDT
Shukran for all the support here in Cape Town. Win or lose Me and the boys have always had a special time here ❤️🙌🏽 🏉 pic.twitter.com/TT6ZvaPujI
— Sonny Bill Williams (@SonnyBWilliams) May 20, 2017