Liam Williams column: Six Nations success and social media abuse

In his latest BBC Wales Sport column, full-back Liam Williams outlines the contrast of Six Nations success with social media abuse he has received during the tournament.

It was a Six Nations trophy presentation, but not as we know it.

Two years ago we had been going through this same process in front of 75,000 people at the Principality Stadium.

Now we were being awarded our medals and Alun Wyn Jones was picking up the trophy in front of just our staff at the Wales training barn base in the Vale of Glamorgan. Strange indeed.

It was where we gathered together on a quiet Saturday afternoon for a couple of hours. No wild celebrations, because we were not in the Covid-19 bubble anymore.

Everybody who was in the barn that day had to be tested before the presentation. Just a sign of the times.

It has been a terrific tournament few will forget. Seeing the coach and captain with the trophies showed the contrast.

Alun Wyn winning his fifth Six Nations, it blows my mind. He is an absolute machine and somebody who I have looked up to for a long time.

Then you have our coach, Wayne Pivac, winning his first. Nobody outside the group gave him a chance after last autumn, but that was a stepping stone to get new guys in the squad and see how they do.

You can see the results with the likes of Louis Rees-Zammit and Callum Sheedy coming through. Wayne's man-management has been great through this campaign, so fair play to him and all the coaching staff.

The players will tell you it's been hard to be away for eight weeks in the bubble, but it's not all about us.

We have to thank the families, the wives and girlfriends who have been looking after the children, they allow the players to do what we do. We would not be able to do it without them.

Afterwards I came home and celebrated with a couple of beers, reflecting on a remarkable couple of months.

I had also watched the France and Scotland match at home 24 hours earlier, with the result meaning we were Six Nations champions. Again, no celebrations because we had Scarlets training the next morning.

It was weird watching that game in Paris knowing it would affect us, but we could do nothing about it.

Scotland were great on the night with their victory, so a big thanks to them. The tournament should not have gone on an extra week, but we are happy to win the championship.

Liam Williams with the Triple Crown and Six Nations trophies

One that got away

There is still a range of emotions on whether winning the Six Nations makes up for just missing out on the Grand Slam after our agonising 32-30 defeat in Paris.

We played some great rugby against France and there were different factors to go into why we lost.

I was most frustrated with the penalty try that was not awarded for the collapse of our driving maul in the second half.

That bugs me a little more than the yellow card I received late in the game by referee Luke Pearce, for what he ruled was going off my feet at a ruck.

A lot has been said about the decision. I am not sure whether Luke felt he made a mistake, but I have looked back at it.

There was not a ruck anymore and there was nobody in that ruck anyway, so it was open play as far I was concerned.

The ball had already been picked up by Antoine Dupont and I don't slap the ball, I slap his hand, so maybe it's a knock-on. You can't change it, he has given me a yellow card, rightly or wrongly, and you have to respect that.

The consequence was Taulupe Faletau was in the sin-bin already with the amount of penalties given against us, so we had 13 men on the field.

There was a lot of frustration with my mind racing at 100 miles an hour and the feeling of helplessness as France clinched the win.

The feeling in the changing room after was terrible. Heads were in hands and an eerie silence. Those are the lowest lows of sport when you have also had the highest highs.

Liam Williams and Taulupe Faletau watch the final moments of Wales' 32-30 Six Nations loss in France from the sin-bin

We had to dust ourselves down and go home. Life goes on. It is just a game of rugby. Yes, it is my life and what I enjoy doing, but you still come home and relax with your family.

It's hard not to think about those last few minutes against France, but what I have learned is you have to let those things go.

Online abuse

What is hard to forget is when you are targeted on social media afterwards. It has happened to me during my career and again after the France defeat.

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) wanted to highlight this abuse and publicly show some of the examples I received and I agreed. This should not be happening.

I want to stress to these cowards who abuse people on social media, it does not affect me personally because I have rhino skin and am strong mentally. I don't want people to feel sorry for me.

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They can say what they want, it is not me that it hurts. It's my mum, dad, sister, brother and nephew and that is not nice to see.

My worry is also if it affects somebody else I am playing with. I know a lot of guys in the Wales squad who are affected by messages they receive, it hurts them personally and they don't react maybe how I do.

I have seen comments like players should come off social media if they don't like it, but you should not have to do that because of abuse.

You should not have to delete your accounts because you have received messages for having a yellow or red card or having done something stupid in a game.

I have also seen two Welsh footballers being racially abused this week. These things should not happen.

I don't have the answer on how it should stop because I am just a rugby player. But it has to stop because remember what we are receiving abuse for - playing for our country.

We come together for national squads from different backgrounds, but have one thing in common and that's the pride of representing Wales. It means the world to me.

I have grown up watching Wales when I used to meet up with the Waunarlwydd boys and travel up on the bus to Cardiff or watch the game in the rugby club.

It was a dream to one day pull on the Wales shirt and words can't explain how it feels to win a Six Nations.

I have put on that red shirt 71 times to represent yourself, your family and the whole of Wales. Hopefully it will be many more times and this sort of thing won't stop me.

The WRU deserves credit for taking the stand and the message had the desired effect. I have had a lot of love over the last week, it is refreshing to see and means a lot to me and the Wales squad.

There was a #bekind hashtag on social media abuse. Some of the messages I have had from the children from a few schools, with the encouragement of their teachers, has been amazing.

Some of the videos we have received have been brilliant and me and my fiancee Sophie have been watching them all.

Scarlets and Lions

There is no time to dwell on any success with more to play for this season.

I am back with Scarlets against Sale in the Champions Cup last-16 match this Sunday and it will only be my third game back since rejoining from Saracens.

I had been injured and away with Wales and it was not ideal when I got a red card against Cardiff Blues and missed a few games.

Scarlets have put their faith in me and have been great during the Six Nations by constantly checking up on us, so we are looking to repay them.

It is a knockout format now and should be a cracking game. We have a good chance in this competition with the squad we have, with lots of internationals.

The British and Irish Lions tour has also been confirmed as going to South Africa this summer and it's nice Wales have won the Six Nations title when it comes to our possible representation.

Personally, I have played pretty well in some of the games so it is not up to me now, I have done my part.

It is down to Mr Warren G (Gatland) now, all up to him. I loved the last tour to New Zealand and it would be a dream to be involved again.