Ospreys confident of warding off English interest in Davies
THE Ospreys are confident they can beat off reported English Premiership interest in one of Welsh rugby’s most highly-rated young talents.
Several top-flight clubs over the border are reckoned to have been keeping tabs on 22-year-old lock Rhys Davies, a player who Wayne Pivac drafted into the Wales squad for the July Tests against Canada and Argentina.
The Rugby Paper suggested the would-be Gallagher Premiership suitors wanted to bring Davies back to English rugby after he enjoyed a spell with Bath before switching to the Ospreys last year.
Exeter Chiefs, Wasps, Worcester Warriors and Gloucester were the clubs named as expressing an interest in the former Wales U20s player.
But the Ospreys believe they can chase away any moves for Davies as he heads towards the end of his two-year contract in Swansea.
Asked if he was optimistic the region would be able to hold onto the player who wore Alun Wyn Jones’ jersey when the Wales captain was unavailable last term, head coach Toby Booth replied: “Very optimistic, yeah. “He’s loving it here. “His career’s moving forward and he’s part of a young core of individuals we are building a team for the future around and one for the present as well. This is his home region, too, which is massive for him.”
The Ospreys will back the 6ft 6in, 18st 3lb forward to continue to flourish at his home region.
Davies piled up 29 tackles without a single miss in the games against the Dragons and Cardiff in the opening two rounds of the United Rugby Championship this season and is a player who relishes the physical side of the game and has an appetite for hard graft.
There had been mild expectation that he would be called up by Wales for the forthcoming autumn Tests. Such a scenario didn’t come to pass, but Davies is a player with a significant future.