Kate Williams continues to vindicate leap of faith with second PWR final

Just three years ago Kate Williams was on patrol in the South West Pacific with the Royal New Zealand Navy - now she is competing in her second consecutive Premiership Women’s Rugby final with Gloucester-Hartpury.

It is a turn of events that started in Williams’ mum’s WhatsApp group and led to a leap into the unknown as the Wales flanker moved across the world to chase her dream of playing international rugby.

But it was also a path that seemed inescapable as Williams grew up surrounded by two rugby-loving cultures, moving from Swansea to Auckland at four years old.

“My dad played, my mum played, I played, my younger brother played after me. It was inevitable,” she explained.

“The rugby culture in New Zealand is quite similar to Wales. Rugby's available to everyone, the rugby clubs are very much a big community hub, which is cool. 

“Most of the people that I was friends with in school played rugby. It fit me very well, because it's still my favourite thing to do, and it's always been my favourite thing to do.”

Williams duly took up rugby at her local club in Auckland, where she played in a boys team, while also embracing all that the lifestyle in New Zealand had in store.

“It was a brilliant life. Where I grew up in Auckland, you'd be going to school and then you'd go to the beach after school and it'd be brilliant weather,” she said.

“At my primary school we didn't have uniforms, I didn't wear shoes to school, it was just very free and outside.

“I was playing in the boys team, but it didn't feel weird or different, I just loved playing rugby, the boys loved playing rugby, so we played rugby together.”

It was that connection to the community and the outdoors that led the 24-year-old to a career in the Royal New Zealand Navy, which she juggled with representing North Harbour and the first Blues Women’s team.

Having grown up near the naval base in Auckland, joining the Navy at 17 felt like a perfect fit and a place to learn more about herself as she figured out what she wanted to do in life.

“Joining as an officer, I grew up fast. It's given me confidence. You have to hone your skills and learn your trade, then once you perform at that you get a lot of self-confidence,” said Williams.

“I was a Warfare Officer where I drove the ship, so it was me and two others up on the bridge. I'd drive the ship to wherever we needed to go and which was a lot of responsibility. I trust myself a lot now. 

“We would do fisheries patrols in the South West Pacific, and we did a trip one year, it was Tonga, Samoa, Rarotonga. 

“You'd be out for about two weeks, then you'd go into port and have the best time going snorkelling, and going out and enjoying yourself with your friends. That was really cool.”

The circus are coming to town 🎪

Who's excited to see @gloshartpury entertain in the #PWRFinal 🎆

If you want your photo taken like this, head to the pop-up PWR Photo Studio inside the Olympic Bar at StoneX Stadium this Sunday between 12:30 and 3pm! It's FREE 📸#PWR… pic.twitter.com/q5a0Fgq9A8

— Premiership Women's Rugby (@ThePWR) March 11, 2025

But despite everything the Navy gave to Williams, she soon realised it was a career in rugby that she really wanted as the dream of playing in Wales stayed at the forefront of her mind.

After mentioning such aspirations to her mum, Williams’ Swansea connections would soon have her on the path back to her homeland.

“[My mum] got on her little WhatsApp chats with her friends and said, ‘Does anyone know any contacts?’” she recalled.

“One of the current players owns a garage in Swansea, and said, ‘Oh, you play rugby for Wales, do you have [Ioan Cunningham’s] email? We sent YouTube clips over, and I got a Zoom call with him in February 2022.”

It was chance once more that gave Williams her first opportunity with Wales as an unfortunate injury to Alisha Butchers at the 2022 World Cup in New Zealand led to a first call-up.

Despite not making her debut, that experience gave Williams reason enough to take a year’s unpaid leave from the Navy after five years of service to take a chance on a move to Wales.

It was a move that paid off as, after appearing in the Celtic Challenge, she earned a move to Gloucester-Hartpury and a Six Nations call-up and international debut soon followed.

“A door had opened and you have a choice to go through it or not. When it’s something you care about you make it happen, don't you?” said Williams.

“I moved over in January and didn't know what was going to happen. It's just been brilliant since.

“I don't remember much of [my debut]. As soon as my Dad knew, he was flying over and surprised me.

“After the game, they brought him onto the pitch, and I remember hugging him and just being like, ‘Dad, I've done it’. That was the coolest moment.”

Full time scenes at ‘Holm 🥰

🍒🐻 #GLOvBRI pic.twitter.com/q3NvWvBzOl

— Gloucester Hartpury (@gloshartpury) March 3, 2025

Subsequently, Williams has only been further vindicated. She lifted the PWR title with Gloucester-Hartpury last season and is now hoping to do it all again against Saracens.

“I have such belief in this team, I just genuinely reckon we are the best team in the league,” she said.

“We've done ourselves all a brilliant service to give ourselves the opportunity to win the league again. We're definitely good enough, and we just need to perform on the day.”