Wales ace Davies backs call to kill the caterpillar

GARETH Davies has thrown his support behind the idea of rugby quickening the tempo and banning the caterpillar ruck moving forward.

The Autumn Nations Cup failed to get the pulse racing for fans and the lack of entertainment in the game is a big talking point.

Caterpillar rucking – where a series of forwards protect the scrum-half from the opposition before he box-kicks – has become an increasingly common and unwelcome sight.

Wales scrum-half Davies told TRP: “I’m all for a nice quick game because that’s what I like. I’m not really one to sit on the ball for a long time before I’ve got to kick it.

“If the ball is there to be used, I’d like to think I’d use it before five seconds anyway without having the referee having to call it.

“I think it’s good for the game and there has been a lot of talk about it in the last couple of months. The more of that (caterpillar rucking) we can cut out, the better the standard of rugby and the better spectacle we’ll get.”

Davies made his 200th Scarlets appearance in their Champions Cup clash with Bath yesterday and finished Wales’ autumn campaign on a high with a try against Italy.

It was just Wales’ third win of the calendar year under new head coach Wayne Pivac.

“We came into camp and everyone would agree that as a squad of players we probably weren’t quite there physically,” said Davies.

“We were quite slow and not where we wanted to be, but after a long break over lockdown and a handful of PRO14 games it was a big step up to come into the international environment.

“That showed in the first couple of games, but we improved and defensively we were a lot better against England. It was nice to see a bit of line speed.

“It was the same against Italy and in that game we played a bit more rugby. It was nice to finish with a comfortable victory and that will give us confidence going into the Six Nations.

“It’s not going to happen overnight. It did take a while when Wayne started with us at the Scarlets, but we know how good things were when they did finally click. Hopefully that will start with the Six Nations.”