Playing At The Centre Of National Rallying

Welsh rugby star Scott Williams is the unlikely owner of a new preparation firm.

- Jack Benyon

It’s a cracking spot on Route 60. The cars come into a tricky square right with a drop the other side on the tricky Epynt asphalt.

Walk up and you’ve got a number of jumps, one after the other, and a professional Welsh rugby player, George North, the other side. He’s not hidden by the crests. He is well beyond six feet tall.

What’s he doing here? Apart from his frame providing the ridiculous juxtaposition of holding two tiny dogs, he’s here to watch his international rugby team-mate Scott Williams, who is the zero car on the Nicky Grist Stages Rally. It’s July.

“Ooooffffff. Fair play!” says North as Williams fires over the second bump. There’s a lift on the first, but he’s a big rugby player so we won’t hold that one against him.

Williams, yes, sorry. What’s he doing here?

It’s fair to say the Carmarthen-born man has a thirst for speed. “I’ve always loved motorsport and anything to do with an engine,” he says with a grin, transporting him back to his childhood.

Back in a dark period of his rugby career, where he picked up an injury in the World Cup in 2015, he needed something to take his mind off it. And that came in the form of setting up his own rally car preparation business.

His brother-in-law is none other than Barry Jones. If you don’t know Jones, he’s the current Irish Tarmac Historic Rally champion, and a wizard when it comes to building Ford Escort Mk2s. Whether it’s with a BDA in historic-spec, or with a Millington engine in missile-spec, Jones can build it.