NATHAN Williams admits he has been challenged as never before as he has made the jump to fully professional rugby with the Dragons via the Scarlets Academy, Narberth, Carmarthen Quins, Llanelli RFC and Moseley.
Williams, born and bred at Milford Haven, made the commitment last summer when he returned to Wales, albeit in the east, after four years in the Midlands playing for Moseley in the English Division One, now called the Championship.
"It was a big stepping stone for me to come back to Wales," he said. "It started a bit slowly and I was on the bench initially, but then I started to get some game time and I hope to kick on from here.
"I think I've done okay, but it's certainly been a challenging environment for me and even transferring things from the training pitch to matches has been difficult.
"It's been tough and it's a great standard. Some of the best props in the world play in this league - players like Adam Jones and Gethin Jenkins and some of the Irish props. The Treviso scrum is underrated, too, they pride themselves on the set piece."
But 28-year-old Williams also admits it has been a frustrating season for the Dragons, believing they have been close to winning a number of games that they have ended up losing.
"It's been a bit up and down for us," he acknowledged. "We went through a stage when we played some good rugby and we were agonisingly close to beating Munster. There have been half-a-dozen games we could and should have won, but we haven't which is what has put us where we are.
"It's been frustrating for us and for the crowd who have been brilliant; it would have been lovely to have given them a couple of home wins. But we lost against Connacht and Treviso because we made lots of errors which cost us dearly, especially against Treviso when three of their tries came from our mistakes."
Williams still has no regrets about his move to Rodney Parade and he knew what he was getting into when he joined. "I played against Newport RFC in a couple of friendlies and when I was with Llanelli. There has always been a phenomenal crowd here, they are always on your back so now it's good to be on the right side of them," he said.
But it's still been a long time coming for the West Walian who started out as a back row forward for Milford Haven Juniors and at school but was converted to prop when he was selected for Wales Under-16s.
He also earned national recognition for the under 18s and 19s, but though he was in the under 21 squad failed to get a cap at that level. He heard that Moseley were looking for props so made the decision to re-locate and describes the English Championship as "a massively underrated league."
But he's glad to be back in Wales and after admitting to a season of frustration, though a progressive one on the personal front, now wants to finish his debut season on a high by beating top European team Leinster at Rodney Parade on May 5.
"I hope we produce the goods against them. If we can beat Leinster in our last game it will put down a message of intent for next season," he concluded.
Williams, born and bred at Milford Haven, made the commitment last summer when he returned to Wales, albeit in the east, after four years in the Midlands playing for Moseley in the English Division One, now called the Championship.
"It was a big stepping stone for me to come back to Wales," he said. "It started a bit slowly and I was on the bench initially, but then I started to get some game time and I hope to kick on from here.
"I think I've done okay, but it's certainly been a challenging environment for me and even transferring things from the training pitch to matches has been difficult.
"It's been tough and it's a great standard. Some of the best props in the world play in this league - players like Adam Jones and Gethin Jenkins and some of the Irish props. The Treviso scrum is underrated, too, they pride themselves on the set piece."
But 28-year-old Williams also admits it has been a frustrating season for the Dragons, believing they have been close to winning a number of games that they have ended up losing.
"It's been a bit up and down for us," he acknowledged. "We went through a stage when we played some good rugby and we were agonisingly close to beating Munster. There have been half-a-dozen games we could and should have won, but we haven't which is what has put us where we are.
"It's been frustrating for us and for the crowd who have been brilliant; it would have been lovely to have given them a couple of home wins. But we lost against Connacht and Treviso because we made lots of errors which cost us dearly, especially against Treviso when three of their tries came from our mistakes."
Williams still has no regrets about his move to Rodney Parade and he knew what he was getting into when he joined. "I played against Newport RFC in a couple of friendlies and when I was with Llanelli. There has always been a phenomenal crowd here, they are always on your back so now it's good to be on the right side of them," he said.
But it's still been a long time coming for the West Walian who started out as a back row forward for Milford Haven Juniors and at school but was converted to prop when he was selected for Wales Under-16s.
He also earned national recognition for the under 18s and 19s, but though he was in the under 21 squad failed to get a cap at that level. He heard that Moseley were looking for props so made the decision to re-locate and describes the English Championship as "a massively underrated league."
But he's glad to be back in Wales and after admitting to a season of frustration, though a progressive one on the personal front, now wants to finish his debut season on a high by beating top European team Leinster at Rodney Parade on May 5.
"I hope we produce the goods against them. If we can beat Leinster in our last game it will put down a message of intent for next season," he concluded.
