It was not the try for which Shane Williams would want to be remembered, but it was the one with which he said goodbye to the Rugby World Cup. His 10th try in the competition, and his 59th in all matches for his country, may have come from James Hook's blatant forward pass, but it also featured a nifty bit of footwork to remind us that the little fellow was a useful soccer player before turning to rugby, and a darting sprint to emphasise what a loss he will be to Wales and to the game as a whole.

His country's most capped wing, and the first Welshman to be voted the International Rugby Board's player of the year, he made his debut in the competition in 2003. Steve Hansen had taken him to Australia as the third-choice scrum-half, behind Gareth Cooper and Dwayne Peel, but by the end of the tournament he was firmly ensconced as an inspiring winger. He made a try for Sonny Parker and jinked over for his own touchdown as Wales went down 53-37 to New Zealand, and then given England plenty to think about in the quarter-final that finished 28-17 in favour of the eventual champions.

Four years later, having added a stone and a half to his original 11st without forfeiting speed or agility, he was in his pomp. Although he played only four matches in France as Wales failed to progress beyond the group stage, he scored tries in all of them – two against Canada, two against Japan, one each against Australia and Fiji – to finish the tournament third in the try-scoring table, two behind Bryan Habana, one behind Drew Mitchell, and level with Doug Howlett.

He arrived in New Zealand for the 2011 tournament with no one doubting that, at 34, he remains among the most lethal finishers in world rugby as well as one of its great entertainers. Rested for the pool-phase tryfests against Namibia and Fiji, in which other Welsh players touched down a total of 21 times, he scored against Samoa and in the quarter-final against Ireland.

His first involvement in Friday's third place play-off was a painful one as two Wallaby forwards came hurtling into him a split-second after he had kicked the ball away near his own corner. After that he was subdued, not surprisingly, until Wales woke up after the interval and he stretched his left foot to reach Hook's forward pass, redirecting it towards the in-goal area and chasing it to touch down.

Midway through the second half, with Wales trailing 13-8 and pressing hard, there was an attempt at a drop goal from the 22m line, the ball flying wide off his left boot, and he was suddenly prominent at the climax of the final sequence of around 30 phases as his team-mates laid siege to the Australian line. Popping up on the right, he scooted into a mass of tacklers and dragged enough defenders across to loosen up the cover on the other flank; a couple of phases later Leigh Halfpenny sprinted through a gap for the converted final try, taking Wales to within three points of the winners.

All being well, this was not quite the last time Shane Williams will be seen in a Wales shirt. The Wallabies' visit to Cardiff on 3 December is scheduled to provide a full house with a chance to pay tribute to the country's greatest wing since the incomparable Gerald Davies.

"He's been an outstanding performer," Warren Gatland said. "He goes looking for the ball and he works hard and things happen around him. I'm not sure the drop goal was the best decision to make, but the try was created out of nothing. Perhaps the pass was a little bit forward, but we needed a little bit of luck at some stage."

The veteran fly-half Stephen Jones is nine months younger than Williams but made his Wales debut two years earlier. "Shane's been such an attacking threat for us," he said after they had come off the field together. "The more touches he has, the more potent we are. You're always happy when he's got the ball."

Jamie Roberts is one of the younger players who grew up thinking of him as a hero. "I'm sure the majority of the boys did. He's an absolute legend of a bloke. I'm disappointed for him, finishing the World Cup as we did, but he's been magnificent in this tournament and certainly a player who everyone in world rugby admires. There's no greater respect you can get than that. He's left the world stage on a huge high and hopefully he'll get to run out against Australia in the Millennium Stadium in December. If anyone deserves it, it's him."