Phil Davies

This article is about the Welsh rugby player of the 1980s and 1990s. For the Welsh rugby player of the 2000s, see Phil Davies (rugby player born 1981). For other people with the same name, see Philip Davies.
Phil Davies
Full name Philip Thomas Davies
Date of birth (1963-10-19) 19 October 1963
Place of birth Seven Sisters, Wales
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position Lock
Amateur clubs
Years Club / team
1982–95 Llanelli RFC
National team(s)
Years Club / team Caps (points)
1985–1995 Wales 46 (21)
Coaching career
Years Club / team
1996–06
2006–08
2010–12
2012–2014
2014–15
2015–		 Leeds Tykes
Scarlets
Worcester Warriors (Forwards Coach)
Cardiff Blues
Namibia (Technical Advisor)
Namibia (Head Coach)
RGC 1404
correct as of 28 June 2015.

Philip Thomas "Phil" Davies (born 19 October 1963 in Seven Sisters, Wales) is a Welsh former rugby union footballer of the 1980s and 1990s,[1] and current head coach of the Namibian national side.[2]

Rugby career

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.

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 England that saw Davies wind up on the wrong end of lock Wade Dooley's fist. Davies' first international appearance came in a 24–15 victory over England in Cardiff, a game that saw his brother-in-law, Jonathan Davies, also make his debut. England, who had not won in Cardiff since 1963, led the game 15–12, before fullback Chris Martin failed to take a high kick and Davies (Jonathan) scored a crucial try. Davies' next appearance came in a 40–3 victory against Fiji at the Arms Park, and he marked the occasion by scoring two of his side's seven tries.

The following year Davies played in seven tests in total, but was denied a possible Triple Crown when his side were beaten 21–18 by England in the first match of the campaign. Wales recovered to beat Scotland and Ireland before losing to France. Davies and his teammates then embarked on a short tour of the Southern Hemisphere as part of the side's preparation for the 1987 Rugby World Cup and included victories over Fiji, Tonga and Western Samoa. The games against Fiji and Samoa passed with relatively little incident, but the Tonga test was notable for its violence and both Davies and Adrian Hadley found themselves on the receiving end of opposition fists, not for the last time in Davies' case.

Honours

International career record

P: 46, W: 23, D: 1, L: 22
Test Points: 21
Tries: 5

Coaching career

Davies was director of rugby at Leeds Tykes from 1996 to 2006 before resigning his post. Davies said at the time: "I have no immediate plans to go elsewhere, rather I just feel it's time to take a break. I want to make it clear this mutual decision has nothing to do with the current situation at Leeds. It is after much soul searching and discussion with my family and Leeds Tykes that I have decided to resign my post."

Davies added: "The last 10 years has been an amazing journey with a fantastic group of people, helping to take the club from National League Three to Heineken Cup rugby and winning the Powergen Cup last season. I will have some time out with my family and reflect upon my career and future, after a decade at this wonderful club."

In May 2012 Davies joined Cardif Blues as Director of Rugby, but resigned on 3 March 2014 after his side's recent run of poor results.[3]

Coach of Namibia

On 26 June 2015, it was announced that Davies would become Namibia's new head coach following the resignation of Danie Vermeulen on 25 June 2015. 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.[4] Namibia proved to be much more competitive than in previous World Cup's, 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 onto 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.

Honours

Other honours

Leeds Tykes

Worcester Warriors

References

  1. ↑ Phil Davies player profile ESPN Scrum.com
  2. ↑ Davies to lead Namibia at RWC
  3. ↑ Phil Davies: Cardiff Blues director of rugby resigns
  4. ↑ Springboks to train with Namibia

External links

Preceded by
Namibia Danie Vermeulen		 Namibian national rugby union coach
2015–Present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
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