Puppy love helping Davies put his Wales snub into perspective
A YEAR ago, Sam Davies might well have earned admiration from the bloke who waves the baton for the Vienna Philharmonic, so impressively did he orchestrate a Wales victory over Italy in Rome.
He upped the tempo during the second-half and earned widespread praise for inspiring 30 unanswered points during his time on the pitch.
Last Saturday? Davies was on the settee with his puppy Ralph, watching Wales open their Six Nations campaign by demolishing Scotland in Cardiff.
Dan Biggar and Rhys Priestland were injured, but the selectors had picked Rhys Patchell and Gareth Anscombe in their squad and both featured in the 34-7 win, with Patchell starting and performing exceptionally. To Davies’ credit, he isn’t bitter. Hurt, yes; but not bitter. Asked where he watched the game against Scotland, he said: “In the house.
“I have a puppy now, so I had to stay at home. Me and Ralph watched the game together.
“It’s obviously going to be hurting a bit to be watching from the sidelines, considering where I was last year and seeing Biggs get injured for the first few games.
“But I can’t dwell on it. If anything, I have to use it as a motivation to get back in the picture.
“It was a good performance by Wales. “They are off to a flyer.” Did the Ospreys man feel a Wales spot was further away than ever? “Not necessarily – things can change so quickly in rugby,” he said. “If you look at how well I was going at the start of last season, reverse it around and Rhys is doing really well now, fair play to him.
“I just have to focus on my game, because if I get back to the top of my game, I’d like to think I’d be able to challenge anyone at outside-half.”
Davies isn’t the first, and won’t be the last, to discover that for every player a career is not a straight line.
There are ups and downs and the challenge for an individual is how to deal with them.
His dad Nigel, a Wales international who played for Llanelli RFC for a decade and went on to coach Wales, the Scarlets, Gloucester and Ebbw Vale, is just the man to remind him of the rules for survival in professional sport.
“There’s no-one better to advise me than my father,” said Davies junior.
“He’s told me about players of the highest quality. You look at Jonny Wilkinson; he had massive downs.
“I wouldn’t say I’ve had a massive down.
“I’ve had a bit of a drop in form, but that was partly down to myself being immature in terms of trying to play through an injury.
“But that’s my fault and I’ll learn from it. I’m 24, not a youngster any more, so it’s just a case of getting my form back to where it was when the Ospreys played Northampton before Christmas.”
The Ospreys’ faith in Davies remains undiminished.
His new boss at the region, interim head coach Allen Clarke, said recently Davies had been showing “all the traits of a top-class 10”, adding that he felt this was his time to shine.
“It’s about getting a run of games,” said Davies.
“I had a run at the start of last year and I hit form.
“When I went into international camp, my run of games was kind of taken away from me.
“Biggs was back starting and I was kind of pulled away.
“If you achieve the consistency that comes from a run of games, that’s when your confidence peaks.
“That said, I wouldn’t say I’m low on belief, especially after some of the games in December. Even at 15 I felt I’d do a job, but I want to be a 10.
“Going back to that role excites me.”
Tomorrow in Connacht sees the Ospreys play their first Guinness PRO14 game since Steve Tandy was relieved of his duties as head coach last month, with Clarke having been upgraded to oversee the running of the side.
“We were on a week off when we heard the news that Steve had gone,” said Davies. “It was obviously quite upsetting, but it’s rugby and it’s happened to my father, so I kind of know what it’s like.
“We are going to be under the radar with Wales playing in the Six Nations, but that may suit us.”