Williams first came to note as a rugby player when he joined first-class Welsh team Llanelli.
He had previously played for Bryncaerau, but after the cessation of rugby with the outbreak of World War I, he joined the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and was posted to the front.
He was selected at wing, opposite William Charles Powell, for the last three games of the 1920 Five Nations Championship; with his first match played away from home against Scotland.
His signing-on fee was a reported as £400,[3] (based on increases in average earnings, this would be approximately £44,230 in 2016),[4] and he made his début for the club on 28 August.
Williams played at centre in Batley's 0–5 defeat by York in the 1922–23 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1922–23 season at Headingley, Leeds on Saturday 2 December 1922, in front of a crowd of 33,719.