Sold-out headline act known in neon lights as Sonny Bill Williams,

He was the last of the Rugby World Cup winning All Blacks to commit to a Super Rugby squad this year but his signature was probably the most valued; he is the New Zealand heavyweight boxing champion and is undefeated in five professional fights; he has played Rugby League for New Zealand and broke transfer records when he moved from the Bulldogs, the Aussie Rugby League side, to French rugby union club Toulon, only to take a huge pay cut to return to New Zealand to fulfill his dream of winning a World Cup in the country of his birth.

He is, of course, the all-dancing, all singing, right-hook swinging, sold-out headline act known in neon lights as Sonny Bill Williams, and he will be the centre of attention at Kings Park on Saturday when the Sharks host the table-topping Chiefs.

Usually, a coach and captain will tell you that they are not targetting an individual for extra attention because this would have the knock-on affect of then creating opportunities for other dangerous players, and the Chiefs have them in abundance, but yesterday John Plumtree and Keegan Daniel unashamedly admitted that the Sharks’ defensive searchlight is locked on SBW.

“You have to accept that he is one heck of a player, that he is arguably in the best form of his life and that the Chiefs base much of their play around him,” Plumtree pointed out. “He is a launching pad for their attacking play because he is so strong, plays very directly and in the tackle has that famous ability to flick an offload to a support player in space.”

Williams moved pre-season from the glam world of the multi-champion Crusaders to the less salubrious surrounds of a humble Hamilton team that finished 10th last year and 11th in 2010. It fits in with his off-field pursuance of a life away from the spotlight. Born of a Samoan father and Caucasian mother, he has converted to Islam and turned his back on a celebrity life that once had him tearfully apologising for alcohol-fueled public exploits that earned him the temporary but cruel nick-name “Sorry Bill Williams.”

Sonny Bill with Razia Myers -RWC 2011

The Chiefs have come from nowhere to beat the best and are deserved leaders of the 15 teams at the halfway stage. Apart from an unusually efficient pack that is producing the best set-piece play that anybody can recall from the Chiefs, much of the Waikato warriors’ revelation is down to the phenomenal 10-12-13 axis of Aaron Cruden, SBW and Richard Kahui.

The outrageously gifted and funnily diminutive Cruden (compared to what is outside him!) is the perfect foil to a midfield that weights 215 kgs of solid muscle, without a shred of fat around the six-packs. Kahui, a seasoned All Black, is the unsung hero of that axis, being as shrewd as he is strong.

“Sonny Bill is clearly enjoying the environment at the Chiefs, and I am not surprised,” Plumtree said. “I know Dave Rennie from my days coaching Wellington (the team from the NZ capital). He is a really good bloke and he did wonders coaching Manawatu (in the NZ equivalent of the Currie Cup). He is getting the best out of SBW, and he is a player that we are going to have to look after because if he gets going with his powerful ability to get over the advantage line, then he is catalyst for the other brilliant players they have in their backline, especially a guy like (wing) Lelia Masaga.”

Loose forward Keegan Daniel, who possibly more than any other Shars will come into very physical contact with SBW as he covers the backline from No 8, said: “We’ve all seen what he’s capable of with the Crusaders and the All Blacks and now he is really hitting his straps at the Chiefs. He has an unbelievably good offload game which makes him extremely difficult to defend against, so we will have to pay a lot of attention to him. Overall, it’s going to require one of the biggest defensive efforts from us of the entire season.”

by Mike Greenaway