Former Wales fly-half Adrian Davies looks back at his career

ADRIAN DAVIES THE FORMER WALES, NEATH, CARDIFF, CAMB UNIV AND RICHMOND FLY-HALF

In five years of Test rugby I played under four head coaches so consistency in selection was limited. I sat on the bench most of the time with Jenks (Neil Jenkins) at 10. Albeit I thought I should play, I totally understood that it was very difficult to leave him out of any side at the time given his phenomenal goal kicking and wonderful distribution skills. He’s also a top bloke and I’d have loved to have had a run of games with us playing at 10-12.

We did play as a 10-12 combination in what turned out to be my last Test, against Ireland at the World Cup in 1995. It was my second tournament having been in the squad four years earlier without making it onto the field. Myself and Eric Ellwood kicked the leather off the ball all day as Ireland edged a dreadful game, 24-23, to advance to the knockout stages at our expense. Neither World Cup was a success, either from a team or personal point of view. But we were always up against it with the coach changing approximately a month before both tournaments!

The only time I felt really comfortable in the Welsh set up was when Ron Waldron (Neath) and Alex Evans (Cardiff) were in charge. Ron asked me to join Neath after coaching the inaugural Wales U19 tour to New Zealand of which I was captain. As a youngster I felt it would be great to learn from Jonathan Davies who was playing there, but he soon left to join Llanelli. By coincidence, we ended up playing them in the Cup final later that season but he and Llanelli certainly had the better of the day – with Ieuan (Evans) scoring after 30 seconds!

For much of my time at Neath I was studying at Cambridge where I won four rugby Blues and one at football having played international football at schoolboy level. The standard of rugby was incredible at the time; internationals in virtually every position in the backs on both sides. To be captain of a winning side in my last Varsity Match was a special moment.

I’d played in the Varsity match, not only with both my brothers, but also with Mike Hall/Andy Booth and against one of my oldest mates Andy Moore, all of whom were playing at Cardiff. I was also working in Cardiff as a surveyor, so I decided to join them on leaving University. At Cardiff, the squad managed to develop that ruthless streak which I’d learnt at the Gnoll and I enjoyed five brilliant years. We won the Cup and League and reached the final of the first-ever European Cup, losing to Toulouse after extra time.

That Cardiff squad could have gone on to be a dominant force in Europe, but the core broke up when professionalism came in. Cardiff were slow to grasp the change and myself and Andy Moore decided to join Richmond where my younger brother was playing. Richmond were then a third division side but once I was told they’d signed Ben Clarke from Bath I knew they were serious.

The first couple of years of professionalism were incredible.We managed to win promotion to the Premiership, finished fifth the following year and reached the semi-finals of the Cup after beating Leicester. We’d also moved to the Madejski Stadium and had a great sponsorship deal with Oracle. However, when Ashley Levett withdrew his money after three years, the club failed to find new backers and the game was up. I’d also damaged my knee and was advised to retire at the age of 28.

I helped with coaching at Esher for a year before being asked to be director of rugby at London Welsh. We played in the Championship without any full-time players and punched above our weight for many seasons. It was a great time to be involved at the club and a thoroughly rewarding experience.