Another season, another battle. That's the story of Springbok wing Chester Williams' life.

The World Cup hero of 1995 ended the 2000 season with a sublime performance against the Barbarians, but on Wednesday he was omitted from a Springbok squad of 32 for a national team workshop in Cape Town on 25 and 26 January.

Williams, however, has previously overcome bigger disappointments and on Thursday he vowed to fight back yet again to prove his detractors wrong. The Lions star is in Pretoria training with the national Sevens squad prior to their departure for the World Cup in Argentina.

He refuted the rumours that he was about to retire after the Springboks 2000 end-of-year tour. "I never said anything about retirement and I have never even contemplated it.

"I thought I ended the tour on a high with that game against the Barbarians. The newspapers write about my perceived lack of speed, but they forget who scored two tries in the Barbarians game and who was involved in most of the others," the 30-year-old said.

"There were pretty quick players in the opposition's backline that day, but none of them could beat me with speed. But if that's the way they want to get rid of me, I accept it. It's up to me to prove them wrong."

The Paarlite admitted that his omission hurts. "There are guys in the squad who are just as old as I am and even older, but they stay in the squad. Where do you draw the line?"

He confirmed that coach Harry Viljoen told him he would not be offered a national contract for 2001. "He said if I perform well in the Super 12 he will look at me again.

"I still have a big appetite for the game. I actually train harder these days because the youngsters are pushing me hard," he quipped. "I feel I have two years of good rugby left," he added on a more serious note.

Viljoen, when announcing the squad, stressed that it would change during the Super 12 and that other players would be invited. "We have identified players who we feel have the potential to play for the Springboks and will be on the lookout during the Super 12," he said.

While Williams and the rest of the omitted players must prove themselves all over again in the arduous Super 12, Bob Skinstad has the luxury of walking straight back into national contention without even kicking a ball. This has already led to unhappiness among some of the country's top players. They want to know why Skinstad, who hasn't played for more than a year due to a knee injury, is getting preferential treatment, while they have to earn their spurs at the coalface of the Super 12.

The 1999 World Cup debacle, when popular captain Gary Teichmann was dropped to accommodate Skinstad, and the rift in the successful 1998 team, after Andre Venter was shifted to lock to make place for Skinstad on the British tour, are still fresh in the mind. Springbok rugby can ill afford another upheaval about Skinstad and maybe the gifted player's inclusion in the squad was a bit premature.