Why McBryde Davies to tour why he won’t!
THE Wales squad for the upcoming Tests against Tonga and Samoa may have already been selected, but nothing is set in stone.
So here's an idea: why don't the management add James Davies to the party?
Why don't they acknowledge they should have picked the Scarlets flanker in the first place and that his dynamite performance against European heavyweights Leinster on Friday night demands he is called up?
How many man of the match displays in big matches when the pressure is on does it require for Davies to be given a chance to show he can step up to the international scene?
Sure, any player can have a special night when he produces the performance of his life which helps his team reach a final.
But Davies' case to play for his country runs far deeper than his heroics in the Guinness PRO12 semifinal.
Asked afterwards if the way the 26-year-old had played made a mockery of his continued exclusion from the Wales squad, coach Wayne Pivac pointed out that his man has been at the top of his game for three years. This is not some freak spike in form.
It is impossible to argue. Davies has become one of those players who almost never has a poor game, and when he's at his best is the man who makes the Scarlets tick.
However, even by his lofty standards the younger brother of Lions centre Jonathan Davies was oustanding in Dublin.
And what he did in an encounter of Test match intensity should be enough for Wales interim coach Robin McBryde to re-assess.
There is nothing to stop McBryde increasing his squad by one to reward Davies and see if he can bring his Regional brilliance to bear for his country. Even if he just gets half an hour in one of this summer's games the openside has done more than enough to warrant a cap.
It will almost certainly not happen though.
When McBryde was quizzed as to why Davies wasn't in a Wales squad shorn of 12 Lions call-ups including Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric, he came out with some guff about Davies having having been injured at the wrong time in terms of pressing his claims.
Instead, McBryde opted for Ellis Jenkins, Josh Navidi, Thomas Young and Ollie Griffiths as his options at No.7 on tour.
All fine players, all deserving of their opportunities in their own way. But none more so than Davies.
If you're talking about sheer impact on matches then none of the above, with the exception of Young, can live with what Davies has done this season.
Conspiracy theories, unsurprisingly, have abounded in the search for a satisfactory explanation.
Davies' character is too off the wall, he's too small for the international game and so on and so forth...
None really stack up, especially the latter gven the way the Scarlets man dominates the breakdown.
And anyway, what Davies may lack in size he makes up for with indomitable spirit.
History is littered with players whose faces, for one reason or another, didn't fit with Wales selectors. Davies' is right up there among the most prominent.
Yet I'll say it again; there is nothing preventing McBryde from admitting it was a mistake to leave him out in the first place and drafting Davies in.
That's what should happen. But that's what won't happen.