Sonny Bill Williams: Young fan who received All Blacks star's medal is actually British
Williams didn't go without and was later presented with another medal
It was one of the most touching moments from the Rugby World Cup: a lucky young fan receiving Sonny Bill Williams' winning medal after he stormed on to the pitch at the end of the match.
However, it turns out the initially believed young Kiwi is actually English.
Despite earlier reports that the young boy was a New Zealand native, The Telegraph reports that 14-year-old Charlie Line is British. He attends boarding school in Somerset and was born in Singapore to British parents.
Despite his nationality, Charlie is evidently a huge fan of Williams and became recipient of the medal after running onto the Twickenham pitch after the team stormed to victory, beating Australia 34-17.
After being tackled by a security guard, Williams helped the boy up and hugged him before making the generous donation.
Williams said afterwards: “A young fella snuck on the field somehow but when he was coming up to give me a hug, he got smoked by a security guard, full-on tackled him.”
“He was only eight and the other fella was a full-on man, so it looked like he would break his ribs of something.”
“The moment probably just got the better of him but he was just so excited to get on the field with the All Blacks. I thought I’d make it a night to remember for him, rather than my medal being hanging up at home or something like that.”
At age 14, All Blacks fan Charlie is a bit older than Williams initially believed.
According to Williams, the teenager tried to contact him to return the medal but Williams told him to keep it.
However, Williams didn’t find himself short after being presented with a second medal by World Rugby at the World Rugby Awards a day after the match.