Zelim Nel’s in The Clubhouse

The phenomenon that is Sonny Bill Williams has changed the face of professional rugby, but only time will tell whether he is able to avoid the snares and misfortunes that have sullied the careers of many other sporting luminaries.

With less than 12 months of southern hemisphere rugby under his belt, Williams has already overshadowed All Blacks icon and Crusaders teammate Dan Carter as the game’s most influential attacking force.

The way that Williams has single-handedly raised the bar on his contemporaries is reminiscent of Fijian winger Rupeni Caucaunibuca who burst onto the Super 12 in 2002. Over the course of three seasons, the Blues finisher set a new standard for wing play in the competition, scoring 15 tries in 14 appearances.

Caucau then accepted a lucrative offer to ply his trade in the French Pro D2 league, and between 2004 and 2009 scored 65 tries in 108 matches for Agen.

But, with the rugby world at his feet, Caucau’s magnificent on-field performances were blighted by the consequences of a sloppy work ethic, a bad attitude and dubious professionalism.

The stocky finisher failed to arrive for Fiji’s World Cup qualifying match against Samoa in 2005 and was suspended from the national team for one year.

He later blamed a tropical virus for skipping Agen’s pre-season training camp in 2006, and could not tour with the Pacific Islanders to Ireland at the end of that season because he “lost his passport”.

Less than six months later, Caucau was banned again, this time for testing positive for cannabis and, frustrated by their star player’s recklessness, Agen released him.

The winger made an unsuccessful attempt to resurrect his career with the Fijian Sevens side before, enamored with his peerless talent, Agen offered Caucau a second chance at the start of the 2008/2009 season. The winger put his head down and finished as the Pro D2’s leading try-scorer, simultaneously helping Agen to qualify for the premier Top 14 competition.

At season’s end he was recalled by Fiji for a one-off Test against Australia, but the winger’s characteristic unreliability bubbled to the surface and, when he failed to meet the deadline for his return from the Pacific Islands, Agen washed their hands of Caucau for good.

But the trend of delinquent super athletes is by no means exclusive to rugby.

In cricket, Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne bowled what has become known as the Ball of the Century on day two of the first Test of the 1993 Ashes series to dismiss England batsman Mike Gatting.

Warne’s masterful leg-spin is credited with having rescued cricket from a 20-year spell during which the game was dominated by fast bowlers. Regarded as one of the all-time greats, the Australian averaged more than four wickets per game in 301 first-class matches.

But during his illustrious 13-year international career, Warne’s reputation as an upstanding professional sportsman was dragged through the mud after he was embroiled in a betting scandal, a failed dope test and numerous allegations of extramarital affairs.

The most squeaky-clean reputation in pro sports was tarnished by infidelity when golfer Tiger Woods admitted to having had more than 100 affairs.

Woods is the youngest player ever to have achieved a career Grand Slam. He’s won 14 majors, 16 world golf championships and was the highest-grossing athlete in the world last year. But in 2009, more than a dozen women exposed Woods’s marital unfaithfulness.

A 20-year-old Mike Tyson rocked boxing in 1986 when he clinched the WBC title to become the youngest heavyweight champion. And when he added the WBA and IBF titles a year later, Tyson became the first heavyweight boxer to hold all three belts simultaneously.

The media embraced Tyson as the “baddest man on the planet”, and he soon began to live up to his reputation. There were allegations of physical abuse levelled at Tyson in the first of three marriages, and rumours abounded that the boxer suffered from depression. “Iron Mike” spent three years behind bars after being convicted of raping an 18-year-old beauty queen and, in 2003, after having won 50 of 58 professional bouts with 44 knockouts, was forced to file for bankruptcy.

But for every Warne, Woods and Tyson, there are wholesome standout athletes such as Carl Lewis (athletics), Roy Jones Jr (boxing) and Roger Federer (tennis).

At this year’s Rugby World Cup, Sonny Bill Williams may prove to be the catalyst for the All Blacks’ first world championship in more than two decades, but it is how he copes with the highs and lows of sporting stardom which will determined whether he’s remembered with a smile.