| Birth name | William Owen Gooding Williams | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 23 November 1929 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Gowerton, Swansea, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 29 March 2013 (aged 83) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Boilermaker Steelworker | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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William Owen Gooding Williams (23 November 1929 – 19 March 2013) was a Welsh international rugby union player.[1][2] A prop forward, he played club rugby for Gowerton, Swansea and the Royal Navy. At international level he represented Wales on 22 occasions and was chosen to represent the British Isles team on their 1955 tour of South Africa.
On the 1955 British Isles tour, the all-Welsh front row of Billy Williams, Bryn Meredith and Courtney Meredith was selected for a Lions test match. This did not occur again until June 2009 when Gethin Jenkins, Adam Jones and Matthew Rees were selected as the British & Irish Lions front row for the 2nd Test against South Africa.