Player ‘was utterly brilliant’
TRIBUTES have been paid to a Welsh international rugby player praised as “one of the most gifted players of his generation”.
Former teammates of Cyril Davies have spoken about the former Cardiff RFC player following his death last month at the age of 80.
With seven caps for Wales during his career, Mr Davies first started playing for his country in 1951 as the captain of the Wales Schools Under-15 team.
Described as a “shy off the field but confident on it”, he went on to to play six games for the team over two seasons, including numerous victories against England and South of Scotland.
Mr Davies studied electric engineering at Cardiff University, where he started his four-season span at Cardiff RFC.
Both the appearances for the team were against Penarth.
The Arms Park also held an important role for Mr Davies during his international career, after he made his debut there against Ireland where the Wales team were ordered off the pitch to change jerseys due to an onslaught of mud.
Other games for Wales included victories over England and Scotland in 1958, losing only narrowly to the Springboks 3-0 in 1960.
Mr Davies’ last game for Wales came in 1960 after he damaged his knee in a game against England.
From there he went on to play and coach at Ammanford FC, where a broken nose ended his career at the age of 40.
He went on to become a teacher at Ammanford Technical College
Paying tribute to Mr Davies, former Cardiff clubmate and Welsh international Brian Davies said: “Cyril was the best centre I ever played with, he was brilliant.
“He had a unique style and very simple abilities – he had tremendous acceleration and beautiful handling skills.
“He was shy off the field, but full of confidence on it. He was only 5ft 7in tall, and quite stocky, but he could drift past players and then put others into space.
“A number of players got caps through playing outside Cyril because he made them look so good.
“I remember him playing for Cardiff against the 1960 Springboks – he was utterly brilliant and made a break every time he had the ball.”
Mr Davies is survived his his wife of 57 years Janice Davies and his two children Sion and Bethan.