Phil Davies (rugby union)

Philip Thomas Davies (born 19 October 1963) is a Welsh former rugby union footballer of the 1980s and 1990s.^[1] He is now an international coach, currently serving as director of rugby at Leeds Tykes, whilst running his own sports consultancy company.^[2]

Playing career

Davies played his club rugby for Llanelli and enjoyed a distinguished 46 cap career for Wales between 1985 and 1995. It was during this period that Welsh packs became far less dominant than in the glory days of the 1970s and Davies, along with David Pickering and Bob Norster, was one of the few class forwards that his side could muster. Davies played 329 for Llanelli and scored 80 tries and 4 cons during his career.

The mustachioed Davies was a useful addition to the side mostly because of his offensive ability and the fact that he could play either as flanker, number eight or lock forward.

His career is also memorable for his involvement in the so-called "Battle of Cardiff" in 1987, an extremely violent clash between Wales and

Wales

Coaching career

Leeds (1996–2006)

Davies was director of rugby at Leeds Tykes from 1996 to 2006 before resigning his post. When he first took charge in 1996 Leeds where in National Division Four, where in his debut season the club finished third, two places above the previous season. In 1998, they were promoted up to the

In August 2006, he returned to his former playing club, the Scarlets after being appointed Director of Rugby.[4] In his first season in charge at the region, he guided the side to a fourth-placed finish in the 2006–07 Celtic League, while also leading the side to the semi-finals of the 2006–07 Heineken Cup, losing to Leicester Tigers 33–17. In 2007–08, the Scarlets struggled under Davies, losing all six games in the 2007–08 Heineken Cup, and dropping to sixth place in the 2007–08 Celtic League. In April 2008, it was announced that the Scarlets had sacked Davies, and that the 10 May clash with Edinburgh would be his last.^[5] After leaving Llanelli, he served as a consultant head coach with Cardiff RFC from November 2008 until May 2009. Where after he became National Academy Manager for the Welsh Rugby Union, where he was responsible for developing an international pathway at the WRU. This role doubled up with his duties as Wales U20's head coach which he was appointed as in September 2008.^[6]

Wales U20

His first job as head coach was the 2009 Six Nations Under 20s Championship, where Wales finished fifth, just ahead of Italy, who was the only team that tournament Wales won against; 34–14. During the 2009 IRB Junior World Championship, Wales finished sixth after losing to France 68–13 in the 5th Place Final. In the 2010 Six Nations Under 20s Championship, Wales finished third, with victories over Scotland, 20–12, France, 43–8 and Italy, 25–6. In the 2010 IRB Junior World Championship, Wales finished second in their Pool, behind New Zealand, and after losing to hosts Argentina on penalty shootout, Wales finished seventh with a win over Fiji, 39–15.

2010–2015

In 2010, Davies joined recently relegated side

In May 2012 Davies joined Cardiff Blues as Director of Rugby. His first competitive match in charge was a 13–9 win over

After Namibia's 2014 end-of-year tour, Davies was appointed as interim head coach for North Wales region RGC 1404.^[8] Haven lead the side for the remainder of the 2014-15 Welsh Championship season, alongside his Namibian duties as technical adviser, Davies remained with the side for the full 2015-16 Welsh Championship season, missing the first part of the season due to his commitments with the Namibian national side. He helped see RGC promoted up to the Principality Premiership for their first ever time, before standing down as head coach at the end of that season to concentrate on his duties with Namibia.^[9]

Namibia (2014–2019)

After leaving Cardiff in March 2014, it was announced in November that year that Davies was appointed as technical adviser for the

On 26 June 2015, it was announced that Davies would become Namibia's new head coach following the resignation of Vermeulen. Davies moved from the technical advisory role he held from 2014, to the head coach role just 3 months before Namibia participated in the 2015 Rugby World Cup, and Davies first match in charge was on 11 July 2015 against Russia. Namibia claimed their first ever victory over Russia, beating them 39–19, before claiming a 45–5 win the following week to claim the series 2–0. Davies then lead Namibia into their final two matches in the 2015 Africa Cup. They knocked over Kenya, 46–13, and Zimbabwe, 80–6, to claim the Africa Cup title. Davies took the Namibian team to Durban, where Davies trained his side with the Springboks in a three-day training camp.^[10] Namibia proved to be much more competitive than in previous World Cups, where during the 2015 Rugby World Cup, Namibia picked up their first ever World Cup point, haven achieved a losing bonus points against Georgia after losing 17–16. In a pool that contained Argentina and New Zealand, Namibia only conceded 174 points, ahead of Uruguay who conceded 226. In Namibia's first game, they caused problems for the All Blacks who went on to win the game 58–18. Later, Namibia pushed Tonga to lose 35–21, though scored 3 tries in the match, the most scored by Namibia during a World Cup match. They finished their campaign with a 64–19 loss to Argentina on the final day of Pool matches.

In 2016, Davies led his side to second place in the

The start of the World Cup year saw Namibia win their first ever test match against Uruguay during the 2019 World Rugby Nations Cup. Despite this, Namibia went on to lose their other 2 games, finishing bottom of the table for the first time since 2015.

Return to Leeds Tykes

On 3 January 2020 Yorkshire Carnegie (the former name of Leeds Tykes) announced that Davies had returned to Headingley as Director of Rugby replacing Martyn Wood.The club were bottom of the Championship having lost their first 13 games of the season.^[11]

Honours

Namibia

• Africa Cup
  • Winners: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
• World Rugby Nations Cup
  • Runner-up: 2016 (joint with Emerging Italy)

Consultancy company

In December 2016, Davies rejoined Worcester Warriors as a coaching consultant in a bid to see the club stay afloat in the top tier of English Rugby.^[12] With Davies' help, Worcester remained in the top flight competition with key victories over leading teams Harlequins 24–17 and Saracens 24–18.

In June 2017, Davies returned home to Wales and was announced as head coach for his former club side, Llanelli.^[13] He doubled up his duties with Llanelli and Namibia throughout the season, until he left his post at the end of Welsh season. As part of the personal consultancy company he runs, he became a technical adviser for Nuneaton R.F.C. in 2018,^[14] and remained with the side until late 2018 before turning his attention to Namibia in 2019.

References

External links

• Phil Davies Rugby - sports consultancy company
• Phil Davies at Sporting Heroes (Part 1)
• Phil Davies at Sporting Heroes (Part 2)
• Phil Davies at Sporting Heroes (Part 3)