THE SECRETS OF DAVIES’S SUCCESS
JONATHAN Davies is still waiting to get back on the rugby field, with his absence stretching back more than 300 days.
In that time – he has been out through injury since last year’s World Cup – a lot has changed.
Wales have a new coach, so too the Scarlets.
His midfield partner for club and country, Hadleigh Parkes, has left Welsh rugby after six years in Llanelli to enjoy pastures new.
So when Davies does return to the pitch, things will be different.
But provided he returns from injury close to the player he was before his knee injury, one thing is likely to remain the same.
And that is his importance to the Scarlets and Wales.
There are players who perhaps seek the limelight more than Davies, but the 32-year-old is a talisman nonetheless.
So what makes him so good? Let’s start with perhaps the facet of the game that most credit Davies for.
The Scarlets centre has long been Wales’s defensive captain, leading the rearguard effort by example.
His near-perfect decision-making from the 13 channel has often allowed Wales a larger margin of error when it comes to using Shaun Edwards’s aggressive defence in the past.
His ability to know when to blitz hard or drift is better than most. He can either fly up into the face of an opposition back, shutting a play off completely, or push off to soak up the pressure out wide.
That marshalling of the game, and the touch more responsibility he takes in defence, allows Wales’s rearguard to rarely break, only bend.
Wales were often caught narrow in the Six Nations. In particular, the defeat to Ireland in Dublin saw Wales not only struggle with the home side’s ruck speed, but getting numbers in defence out wide.
Often, there was acres of space out wide, with the Welsh defence bunching up to cover inside rather than having enough trust to push out and fill the space out wide.
Wales didn’t always get their personnel or decisions around the tackle area correct during the Six Nations, resulting in the
Welsh defensive line having less time to set.
That’s where Davies’s defensive nous comes in.
His marshalling of the backline is often enough to slow down the progress of the attack, meaning those split-second decisions in defence are that little bit easier to make.
What about with ball in hand? Well, both Wayne Pivac and Stephen Jones are familiar with Davies.
When Davies was playing some of the best rugby of his career – back in the middle part of 2017 – it was under Pivac and Jones that the centre was thriving in an all-court game as the Scarlets marched towards the PRO12 crown.
He, of course, then went on to even greater heights, being named the Lions’ player of the series in New Zealand after three Test displays that encapsulated everything he does so well as a player.
But back to the point at hand, Davies’s work in attack. As an offensive weapon, he has always been potent.
The strike-running ability has been there from an early age, with his angled lines and deceptive pace marking out his formative years in Llanelli.
But over time, he’s developed into more of an attacking threat.
There’s the bionic hand-off, which at times looks hilariously overpowered when a tackler is left sprawling to the turf while Davies carries on with his business.
There’s the rounded offloading game, which has often allowed Wales to break down stubborn defences – just as Davies did for Josh Adams’ try against Fiji last year.
And then there’s the cultured leftfooted kicking game, a rare luxury for a backline to call upon.
But as devastatingly effective as all the above skills are in tight exchanges and physical encounters, it was working in space where Davies really shone under Pivac and Jones in 2017.
If Pivac and Jones can prise some of that 2017 magic from Davies and work it into the plan on his return, Wales will be better off for it.
It will also be interesting to see how Davies goes with his new midfield partners following Parkes’s departure.
Partnering Nick Tompkins after so long with Parkes will be a bit of a change for Davies. From the calm, level-headedness and body-on-theline pragmatism of Parkes to the almost manic energy of Tompkins.
However, it’s a partnership that promises to excite if picked.
As for the Scarlets, Johnny Williams looks like a ready-made partner for Davies and playing alongside the Lions star could even fast-track the former Newcastle midfielder towards Test rugby.
Whoever he’s partnering, it’ll just be good to see Davies back for the next chapter of his career.
With some familiar coaches in charge of Wales, it could be another cracker.