Sport The 6ft 7in ‘unit’ set for a long career with Wales
WANDER into pretty much every rugby club in these parts and the chances are an old head at the bar will point to a bloke in the corner of the room and say he could have played for Wales.
But, for whatever reason, the said individual didn’t go on to line up at the Principality Stadium, play a stormer against England and become a hero.
Instead, he became the best pool player in his local club, perhaps.
Potential is never enough.
“Preparation and effort are going to be key,” Phil Davies, one of the drivers behind ‘The Dream’ that took Treorchy RFC into the upper echelons of Welsh rugby for a short while, perceptively said as the game went professional in 1995.
“It won’t be enough to just have talent and promise.
“A whole lot more will be required from young players to come through.” His words still ring true. But it doesn’t stop the whole world and his budgie from seeing if they can predict who’ll be lighting up the scene in the years ahead.
And so to the pre-season training at the Ospreys and the arrival of Rhys Davies at the region.
His signing earlier this term may have gone under the radar for many casual observers of the game in Wales.
But the 6ft 7in youngster is already turning heads, with an Ospreys insider calling the young giant a “unit” and saying how switched on he appears, adding: “He’s raw, but he looks to have a lot to offer.
“He’s all knees and elbows, a player you wouldn’t want to come up against.
“All the bits are in place for him to be a good player.”
The 21-year-old from Swansea penned a deal with the Ospreys in the spring.
Where had he been until then?
A member of the Ospreys academy until leaving for Millfield School at the age of 16, he was picked up by Bath, where he played alongside and was coached by Luke Charteris.
Quality locks are not put together overnight but the English club were delighted with the way Davies was developing. They played him in the Gallagher Premiership and the Heineken Champions Cup last season; everything seemed in place for a proper breakthrough.
Possibly, he would have stayed at The Rec longterm, but when the Ospreys showed an interest, the approach proved attractive as it not only offered Davies the chance to play for his home region but also be part of a squad that included locks of the experience of Alun Wyn Jones and Bradley Davies – 213 Test caps between them.
Bath were disappointed at his departure, with director of rugby Stuart Hooper saying when the deal was done that the English club had seen the forward “really emerge and display some impressive performances”.
Hooper continued: “It’s rewarding and satisfying in a way, to see one of our young men develop the way he has, and to see him benefit from the programme that is available here to our best young players.”
Operating for a region also gives Davies more of a chance to put himself in the shop window for Wales.
How far is he from that level? “He’ll be playing for Wales within two years,” said a close observer of the scene in Wales and England,
who has had Davies on his radar for the past three years.
“The thing is with Rhys, he’s not just a big man. He’s also athletic and good defensively. He can win the ball, carry it and stop others in their tracks.
“Undoubtedly, he would have benefited from Luke Charteris’ presence at Bath. My understanding is that Luke thinks the world of him.”
The Ospreys appear to be onto a winner, then.
The Dragons and Cardiff Blues also showed an interest in Davies and Bath were keen to keep him, but the pull of home proved irresistible.
But the hard work is just beginning.
Welsh rugby knows little of him.
If all goes well, that will have changed this time next year with Davies climbing in the game.
This is his big opportunity.