2003 Following the 2002 year-end tour to Europe, Williams became a regular member of the All Blacks. He started in all three matches against touring
Northern Hemisphere teams, in June 2003, though he could have missed the games against Wales and France, after being cited for stamping on the head of England
fullback Josh Lewsey; he was cleared of the charge when a disciplinary tribunal ruled that his actions had been "inadvertent and incidental". He started in all four matches in the
2003 Tri Nations Series, before being chosen in the All Blacks squad for the
2003 Rugby World Cup. He almost did not make the squad, after suffering a stress fracture of the right foot during the All Blacks training camp in
New Plymouth, an injury that required the insertion of a pin, but was included on the strength of his
line-out play. He was rested for the first two pool matches, against and , but started in the remaining five games that New Zealand played, scoring his first international try in the final pool game, against Wales, when he jumped above the Welsh
wing Shane Williams, to collect a cross-field kick from
Carlos Spencer. French back, and newspaper columnist,
Thomas Castaignède named Williams and England's winning captain,
Martin Johnson as the locks in his "team of the tournament".
2004 At the start of the 2004 season, Williams failed to impress new All Blacks coach
Graham Henry. Struggling to recover from the foot injury sustained just before the World Cup, he was below his best in the
Super 12. Also, Henry was looking for locks who could perform well in the tight forward role, whereas the athletic and mobile Williams was viewed as a forward who was happier operating in loose play. For the trial match between "Probables" and "Possibles", he was chosen merely as a replacement for the "Possibles", and he was left out of the squad to face England, and the
Pacific Islanders, and missed the next five Tests, including the opening match of the
2004 Tri Nations against . He was called into the squad before the Pacific Islands match, as cover for the injured
Keith Robinson, but was not used, and he was left out of the squad for the Tri Nations. When Robinson had to withdraw from the opening game, it was
Simon Maling, not Williams, who was called up to replace him. Williams was recalled to the squad for the next game, against , in which he came on as a substitute, and started in the return fixture against Australia, a game which the All Blacks lost and in which Williams was
sin-binned after New Zealand were adjudged to have infringed repeatedly. After an indifferent performance against Australia – according to coach Graham Henry, "we thought Ali Williams had an opportunity on Saturday and didn't take it" – Williams was dropped from the squad for New Zealand's last game in the 2004 Tri Nations, against South Africa, who won comprehensively, out-scoring the All Blacks by five tries to two. Williams's selection for the All Black's end-of-year tour to Europe was helped by the unavailability of Keith Robinson, and Simon Maling, who was about to take up a contract in Japan, but he only started in the second Test, against Wales, coming on as a replacement in the other two Tests, against Italy and France. He also started in the end-of-tour match against the
Barbarians.
2005 Despite a lack of game time during the
2005 Super 12 season – he was suspended for six weeks after being found guilty of trampling on fellow All Black
Richie McCaw during the game between the Blues and
Crusaders – Williams was chosen to start in the opening Test of the All Blacks season, a 91–0 rout of , during which he scored his second international try. His third came two weeks later, in the first Test against the touring
British & Irish Lions, a game in which he dominated the line-out, winning the ball several times on the opposition's throw, most effectively in the 24th minute, when, having caught the ball on a Lions' defensive line-out, he spotted a gap in the opposing line, darted through it and, shaking off an attempted tackle by the Lions
half-back,
Dwayne Peel, drove over the goal-line for the All Blacks' first try of the match. He started in all three Tests against the Lions, and scored his fourth international try in the final Test, when Dwayne Peel fumbled a grubber kick from
Luke McAlister, and Williams pounced on the loose ball in the in-goal area. He started in all four of New Zealand's matches in the
2005 Tri Nations Series and came close to scoring another try in the last game, against Australia, on his home ground, Eden Park, but, after winning the ball at an Australian line-out and making a 20-metre break, his attempted
grubber kick was wayward. He did, however, create the second of wing
Doug Howlett's three tries in the game when, from within the Australian 22, in front of the posts, he executed a fine cross-field kick that Howlett caught on the far right of Australia's in-goal area for an easy touch-down. In 2009 Williams released his biography "Ali: Tall Book of Tales". It was during this time in which he spoke of an incident involving
Clint Brown then TV anchor for 3 News who was stripped naked by Williams and members of the All Black team and had his eyebrows shaved off after becoming heavily intoxicated on a flight from South Africa to Australia. After such a successful season, Williams was an automatic choice for the year-end "Grand Slam" tour of the
British Isles. Still nursing a shoulder strain that he sustained during a game of backyard rugby, he was rested for the first game, against Wales, but returned for the game against Ireland a week later, in a starting line-up that included none of those who had started against Wales. He started against England at Twickenham, a game that lived up to expectations as the toughest of the tour, but was omitted from the squad for the final game of the tour, against Scotland, after coach Graham Henry opted to make 13 changes from the team that had faced England.
2006 At the start of the 2006 season, the All Blacks faced an awkward schedule, with two home Tests against Ireland to be followed, a week later, by a Test against in
Buenos Aires. Williams was selected in the squad to face Ireland, but suffered a syndesmosis injury – commonly referred to as a high ankle strain – during a training session.
Chris Jack, who had originally been included in the starting line-up for the Argentina game, was brought in to replace him, and Williams took Jack's place for the game in Buenos Aires. Williams was named on the bench for the first match in the
2006 Tri Nations Series, against Australia in Christchurch; he replaced
Jason Eaton with 20 minutes remaining and came close to creating a try when he leapt high to retrieve a cross-field kick from
Dan Carter, tapping it back to wing
Rico Gear, who was unable to hold on to the ball. He started in the next two matches, against South Africa in
Wellington and Australia in
Brisbane, being replaced late in the latter game by Eaton, who replaced him in the starting line-up for the return match against Australia in Auckland. Williams again came off the bench with less than an hour gone, and then played the full 80 minutes in the All Blacks' remaining two fixtures, both against South Africa away from home. Williams did not feature in the first game of the All Blacks' year-end tour to Europe, but was one of ten changes to the starting line-up for the second game, against France in
Lyon and he started in all three remaining matches, two against France and one against Wales in Cardiff. He was replaced by
James Ryan after an hour of the last game, but not before he had demonstrated yet another aspect of his versatility, when he fielded the ball in his own 22 and, with a spiralling kick, cleared it into touch on Wales' 10-metre line, setting up a line-out from which the All Blacks came away with the ball to score their third try of the game.
2007 Williams's troubles with the Blues had no impact on his international career, as he was included in the New Zealand squad for the two-Test series against in June 2007. He started both Tests, but suffered a serious injury in the second Test, on 9 June, when he fractured his jaw while tackling French
number eight Sébastien Chabal. As a result, he missed the whole of the
2007 Tri Nations Series. But despite having his jaw wired and being forced to subsist on soup for several weeks, he made a return to rugby for his club side,
Ponsonby, at the end of July, scoring two tries, and started for Auckland in their
Air New Zealand Cup match against Bay of Plenty on 3 August, scoring a try in the fourth minute of the game. Coincidentally, this was the first time that Williams and his younger brother, Jay, had played together as locks in first-class rugby. Following his return from injury, Williams was an automatic selection for the
2007 Rugby World Cup, especially as two other locks, James Ryan and Jason Eaton were unavailable owing to long-term injuries and
Keith Robinson had suffered a calf strain during the Tri Nations and was a doubtful starter, at least for the first pool game. Robinson suffered a recurrence of his calf strain during pre-tournament training, which left Williams and Chris Jack to share the locking duties during the early games. Williams started in New Zealand's first three games, against , and Scotland. He was replaced for the last 10 minutes of the Italy game, his place being taken by
number eight Rodney So'oialo. So'oialo again replaced him for the last 25 minutes of the game against Portugal, but not before he had scored his fifth international try. He scored again in the game against Scotland, which he started alongside
Reuben Thorne, being replaced for the last 15 minutes by Chris Jack. Robinson was fit again for New Zealand's final pool game, against , and he and Thorne started as locks, with Jack on the bench; Williams was rested for this game. The Scotland game was an emotional occasional for Williams. It was the first time that his father had left New Zealand since a bad fall ten years earlier had left him a tetraplegic, using a wheelchair, and he and Williams's mother were seated alongside the pitch, while Williams's grandmother and other Scottish relatives watched from the stands. == Personal life ==