Why Davies is the odd man out in Wales battle
Sports writer anthony.woolford@walesonline.co.uk
ROBERT Jones has given his take on the three-way battle to become Wales’ first choice scrum-half and admits Gareth Davies may not fit into Wayne Pivac’s game plan as well as the other two.
Davies established himself as firstchoice for the World Cup under Warren Gatland, but has been part of the yo-yo selection under Pivac with Tomos Williams and Rhys Webb also in the Six Nations mix.
Earlier this month, former Wales and Lions star Mike Phillips took a swipe at Pivac’s selection policy, arguing Tomos Williams got a raw deal.
The Cardiff Blues number nine started three of the four matches Wales completed, but was dropped to the bench for their Cardiff clash with France and left out of the squad entirely for the postponed finale against Scotland.
Pivac chose Webb at number nine for that Scottish clash and plumped for Davies on the bench ahead of Williams.
Webb would have been the third different starting nine of the campaign, with Williams playing against Italy and Ireland and Davies wearing the jersey in the home defeat to France.
Jones himself knows full well what it’s like being part of a hotly-debated selection process. A chunk of his 54 caps with Wales came during the David Bishop era and there was a hard core of support for the Pontypool talisman to be picked ahead of his Swansea rival.
It got so intense at one stage that a newspaper backing Bishop delivered a petition to the WRU headquarters, demanding his selection.
And while the Williams-WebbDavies rivalry hasn’t hit those controversial levels, Jones believes Davies might be lagging slightly behind in the race.
Jones, who made Lions folklore in Australia for his infamous spat with Wallabies star Nick Farr-Jones, told The Rugby Paper: “The key thing under this new Welsh game plan is for the scrum-half to be able to move the ball away from the base of the ruck as quickly as possible.
“Gareth is one of the best brokenfield runners in the game and can frighten the heck out of opposition back-rows.
“He makes things happen out of nothing and has played his part in Wales’ success in the last few years.
“But I don’t think he has been at his best. Tomos Williams is in a similar mould, but his service is sharper.
“Rhys Webb is back and in the team based on reputation because he’s not played much rugby.
“I’d say Gareth would probably be down the pecking order, based on selection in the Six Nations.
“With new coaches and new ideas he needs time to adapt. They’ve perhaps taken him away defensively from the work he did in terms of pressuring fly-halves and going for the intercept.
“Those things are a little bit different now so he might not fit in as well as the other two.”