England U20 lock Elliot Williams targets Junior World Championship bronze after South Africa defeat

England U20 lock Elliot Williams has vowed to put right the disappointment of defeat to South Africa as his side prepare to face New Zealand in the third-place play-off at the Junior World Championship.

“A few of us were a bit annoyed after the South Africa game,” the 6ft 6in, 123kg Harlequins second-row told RugbyPass. “We want to right those wrongs.”

Williams, who turned 19 just six weeks ago, has had a rapid ascent through the game. Introduced to rugby at London Irish Amateurs by his parents — both former basketball players — he refined his focus to the sport at 13 after showing promise in tennis and football. A scholarship at Gordon’s School, a known feeder for Harlequins, helped accelerate his development, and by under-18 level in the Premiership’s Academy League he was already drawing attention as a powerful blindside-cum-lock.

His prodigious size earned him a place in Harlequins’ injury-depleted matchday squad last season, where he made around a dozen appearances. It was at Twickenham’s Big Game against Bristol in March that he became an unlikely viral moment, after commentator Austin Healey reacted to his frame with audible disbelief on air: “He’s not 18, I’m not having it. Look at the size of him.”

Williams is relaxed about the attention. “It was all good fun, a bit of a laugh, but I definitely got a lot of sh*t for that one,” he said with a chuckle.

Despite his imposing dimensions, Williams is clear-eyed about what still needs work. “Quins are happy with me around that 120-kilogram mark but it’s more about being quicker and more powerful while maintaining the same weight,” he said. “A trap a lot of big guys fall into is just being big and that’s it. I can’t say I’m one of the gym ‘big dogs’ just yet but my numbers have gone up quite a bit this year thanks to a full-time professional contract and doing proper structured programmes four or five times a week.”

The Williams family pipeline may not stop with Elliot either. His younger twin brothers, James and Zach, are 14 and already playing rugby. “It’s a bit scary, because one of them is 6ft 4ins and scheduled to be bigger than me,” he said. “I’m a bit gutted I will no longer be the tallest in the house.”

For now, though, Williams is focused on the immediate task — helping England U20s secure a third-place finish and end the Junior World Championship on a high.