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.

It was originally planned to be his last appearance as a player,[5] but he shortly thereafter signed a one-year contract to play in Japan with Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars in June 2012.

[7][8] 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.

Williams' former junior football coach, Alun Rees, remembers him as a "superb goalkeeper", but notes that he could also play outfield.

When it came to Williams signing his first professional contract with Neath, Amman United demanded a transfer fee for him, resulting in negotiations between the two clubs.

Nevertheless, Williams eventually signed for Neath on a contract worth approximately £7,500 per annum, equivalent to his wage at the local Job Centre where he was working part-time.

Williams planned to retire from rugby and join Ospreys' backroom staff, but received an offer to play one season in Japan with Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars, in the second division of the Japanese league system.

Williams was awarded his first cap for Wales by Graham Henry as a replacement against France in the 2000 Six Nations season, he was three weeks short of his 23rd birthday and weighed a little over 11 stone.

It was in this game and the following against England that he really showed his world class potential and ensured that he would be a first choice winger for Wales from this point onwards.

This try resulted in his father Mark Williams winning £25,000 from a £50 bet placed almost 10 years previously that he'd one day become Wales' leading try scorer.

[17] On 7 December 2008, he won the BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year, seeing off the competition of Tom James, David Roberts, Geraint Thomas and runners up Joe Calzaghe and Nicole Cooke.

In his first 2009 Six Nations game against Scotland he scored his 45th test try to take him above Jeff Wilson on the all-time leading try scorers list to sixth.

[18] In the fourth game of the championship, Williams scored Wales' opening try against Italy to take himself to equal fifth on the all-time leading try scorers list.

[20] On 21 November 2009, Williams scored two tries in Wales' comfortable 33–16 win over Argentina in the Millennium Stadium, taking his international try tally to 50.

The police lost his passport; his lawyer described the whole incident as a "total stitch-up"; and on his return to the United Kingdom, Williams suggested that he should have spent his holiday in Tenby instead.

[25] On 23 December 2005, Williams married his childhood sweetheart, Gail Branwen Lacey, whom he had met at Amman Valley School 14 years previously, at Twyn Church in Garnant.

He was green gunged with swimmer David Davies in the Crawfr children's television programme and in 2011 has appeared in Clwb Rygbi Shane.

In 2012 he had a TV appearance on BBC2 showing his careers beginning with his gymnastics in Amman Valley School where he was played by 15-year-old Jonathan Coleman.