History won’t weigh on Davies’ mind in last-four clash
GARETH Davies can’t really recall the events of Leicester 11 years ago, the last time the Scarlets reached a European semi-final.
He was only 16 at the time, a season when the men from west Wales once again fell so close to a coveted continental showpiece.
Apart from his backs coach Stephen Jones and skipper Ken Owens, there aren’t any other survivors of that 33-17 loss to the Tigers at the Walkers Stadium to serve as a reminder to this current crop of Scarlets hopefuls.
Which is why the burden of history isn’t weighing heavily on Davies and his team-mates as they prepare to head to Dublin to take on Leinster in their quest to maintain their European dream.
“The fact it has been 11 years has been mentioned once or twice in the last couple of weeks,” said the Wales scrum-half, who has played an integral role in the Scarlets hauling themselves away from an early exit and into the last four of Europe’s premier club competition.
“We know how big an achievement it is for us to have got this far, but we as a group of players want to go that extra step and make a bit of history on Saturday.”
Davies crossed for a brace of tries in both bonus-point wins over Benetton in December to resurrect the fortunes of a side that had lost their opening two pool matches against Toulon and Bath and were within a couple of minutes of a shock home defeat to an Italian side reduced to 14 men for most of the match.
His form has been rewarded with a nomination, along with team-mate Tadhg Beirne, for the European player of the year.
Davies’ coach Wayne Pivac this week stressed that his players won’t be fazed by taking on the tournament favourites at their Aviva Stadium stronghold.
And his fleet-footed No.9 is a case in point.
The highlights reel from last season’s Guinness PRO12 semi-final and final will showcase Davies diving over for memorable tries at the RDS and then again at the old Lansdowne Road against Munster.
He also stepped his way across the whitewash in the colours of his country during this season’s Six Nations clash against the eventual Grand Slam winners.
You could say he has a soft spot for Dublin’s fair city.
“I quite enjoy playing there personally and most of the boys have had some good results there,” he added.
“The Aviva is a terrific stadium and hopefully we will get a lot of Scarlets supporters over there to follow us and cheer us on.”
Like many of his team-mates, Davies cut a relaxed figure when he spoke to the media this week.
“You could feel a real good buzz here as soon as we came in on Monday morning,” he said.
“Every game is knockout rugby now, it is a big challenge for us as a group of players, but one we are looking forward to.
“People talk about last season and it was obviously a good day for us (at the RDS), I thought we played really well, but that was nearly 12 months ago, a lot has changed, there are a few different players in both sides.
“We won’t be looking back too much at that game because it is a different challenge for us this weekend.
“Leinster are one of the best teams in Europe, they are top of our Conference in the PRO14, and beat Saracens (in the quarter-final) a couple of weeks ago. They have had a good season, they are rightly favourites going into the game.
“But we, as a group, quite like going in as underdogs.
“We will stick to our usual game, we are not going to change anything.
“Yes, Leinster are going to be full of confidence, but I think we will have plenty of confidence as well. A few of us had a couple of days off last week to recharge the batteries and we have come in and are looking good.
“We set a target at the start of the season to be involved in the knockout stages in both the league and the cup, that is quite an achievement to get this far.
“But we are hungry for more now.”