Shane Mark Williams, MBE (born 26 February 1977) is a Welsh former rugby union player most famous for his long and successful tenure as a wing for the Ospreys and the Wales national team. He also played scrum-half on occasion. Williams is the record try scorer for Wales and is fourth on the international list of leading rugby union test try scorers behind Daisuke Ohata, Bryan Habana and David Campese.
Williams was born in Morriston in Swansea and grew up in Glanamman in the Amman Valley. He picked up his first rugby ball while still in primary school. Going into secondary school at Amman Valley Comprehensive School (now Ysgol Dyffryn Aman) he was told that he was too small to play rugby, so instead he took up football instead, playing for Cwmamman United A.F.C. In his first appearance for the club's junior team, Williams had to play in goal as no one else would volunteer to take the position. Williams' former junior football coach, Alun Rees, remembers him as a "superb goalkeeper", but notes that he could also play outfield. Williams played for Cwmamman United up to the senior level, while only playing rugby sporadically, and admits that, at the time, football was "his main sport". However, on the day of Cwmamman United's cup final, Williams was invited to play rugby with his friends at Amman United RFC; Amman United ended up winning by 82 points, with Williams scoring five tries.
In 2008, Williams was selected as the World Rugby Player of the Year, then known as the IRB Player of the Year.
Since his retirement from international rugby in 2012, Williams has worked as a presenter on S4C's Six Nations rugby programme Y Clwb Rygbi Rhyngwladol and as a pundit on BBC, ITV and Channel 4 broadcasts as well as third party shows such as "Inside Welsh Rugby", commenting on the grassroots of Welsh rugby.
Williams was selected to the Barbarians squad that played Wales in June 2012. It was originally planned to be his last appearance as a player, but he shortly thereafter signed a one-year contract to play in Japan with Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars in June 2012.
Williams was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to rugby. Williams extended his stay in Japan several times, taking on a role as player-coach and turning down an offer from French Top 14 side Toulon in the process. Before finally announcing he would be returning home at the end of the 2014–15 Japanese Top League season.
In November 2016, Williams was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame during opening ceremonies for the Hall's first physical home in Rugby, Warwickshire.