Silence amid the lambs is a problem for snubbed No.7 Davies
EVEN in an age where Test matches are ten-a-penny, international coaches spend most of their season like shepherds watching over their flock, checking and double-checking on form, fitness and general well-being.
How strange, then, that one of the flock in Wales claims he has had no contact from any of the Welsh coaches over his continuing exclusion from the national squad. Scarlets’ openside James Davies has an Olympic silver medal to show for his part in GB’s sevens squad at Rio but not what he would like most of all, a cap.
“There’s been nothing,’’ he said in response to being asked what advice the Wales management had, or had not given him. “Nothing in the summer and nothing before that. I can’t see me getting picked anyway.’’
Letting people know where they stand, or whether they stand at all, is an integral part of sport at the highest level. Davies has made it clear that, as far as he is concerned, it’s not a case of crossed lines of communication but of no communication full stop.
He has had a couple of disciplinary issues and he does operate in the most competitive area of the Welsh game at No.7, although resources there have taken a pounding with Sam Warburton, Justin Tipuric and Ellis Jenkins all removed from the Test equation by injury.
The younger brother of the Lion among Lions, Jonathan ‘Fox’ Davies, ‘Cubby’ came close to a place on Wales’ tour of New Zealand last year but missed the cut.
With Warburton and Tipuric on Lions duty last summer, he also came close to the South Pacific matches against Samoa and Tonga but again missed the cut. Wales took Jenkins, Thomas Young and the young Dragon Ollie Griffiths instead.
“He (Davies) was close to selection,’’ acting head coach Robin McBryde said before departure. “He’s got all the skills.’’
In that event a lot of Davies’ admirers are wondering why he doesn’t make a development squad let alone the real thing. And nobody is wondering more than the man himself. Sheepish is hardly the word for it…