![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0_Screenshot-279.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe New Zealand international doesn’t know when he will return to rugby with his season over already<\/p>\n
Williams is under close medical supervision in hospital(Image: Instagram: @tamaiti_williams)<\/p>\n
New Zealand prop Tamaiti Williams has announced that his season is over after being hospitalised with a serious infection in his spine.<\/p>\n
The Crusaders star will miss the rest of his side’s Super Rugby Pacific campaign – which only started last month and runs until the end of May – with his return to rugby beyond that remaining unclear and his participation in the All Blacks’ first Nations Championship fixtures against France, Italy and Ireland this summer thrown into doubt.<\/p>\n
The devastating setback comes after Williams was diagnosed with discitis \u2013 an infection in one of the discs in his spine – after struggling with a sore back in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
JOIN OUR WALES RUGBY FACEBOOK PAGE Latest news, analysis and much more<\/a><\/p>\n Having undergone scans and a blood test, the 25-year-old remains under close supervision in hospital as he undergoes treatment and waits for his condition to become stable enough for him to return home.<\/p>\n While his return to rugby will be guided by medical advice, Williams admitted that he will be on medication for “a pretty long time” as he issued a statement from his hospital bed.<\/p>\n Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had a sore back for a couple of weeks and had to come in for some scans and blood tests,\u201d the 27-cap star told Crusaders fans.<\/p>\n \u201cThey found an infection in my back called discitis, which means I\u2019m going to be on antibiotics for a pretty long time. Unfortunately, my Crusade for 2026 is over.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m feeling gutted, but I\u2019m also grateful that the news isn\u2019t as bad as what it could be,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing in hospital, you see a lot, and it makes you appreciate that this place is here to save us. I\u2019ve been told I\u2019m going to make a 100 percent recovery, so I\u2019m thankful for that.<\/p>\n \u201cEven though my season\u2019s done, I\u2019ve got full faith in the boys that they\u2019re going to get the job done.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s an exciting year for us with the new stadium and a lot of big moments coming up. I\u2019ll be backing the team all the way.\u201d<\/p>\n Follow all of our channels to ensure you stay up to date with the latest Welsh rugby news. Sign up to our free daily newsletter here<\/a> and our WhatsApp channel here<\/a> for all the breaking news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New Zealand international doesn’t know when he will return to rugby with his season over already Williams…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[36918,5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-503859","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-new-zealand-rugby","9":"tag-rugby","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}