Dan daring to dream

The young Scarlets openside, who moved to Carmarthenshire from Oxford as a four-year-old, has represented his country at every age grade. His first U20 appearance came in Friday’s superb Six Nations victory against the Scots in Colwyn Bay, where the try-scoring Davis roamed the field in devastating fashion alongside fellow back-rowers Tommy Reffell and Taine Basham.
 
The trio picked up where they left off at U18 level: an age-grade adventure that finished on a memorable high with a tour of South Africa. “It was brilliant. I’ll never really have another experience like it,” says Davis. “I would say it was life-changing in rugby terms, and I got to meet a load of new people. You’ll remember those days when you’re older. It’ll be great to look back at them and see how I’ve progressed.”
 
It was at Llandeilo RFC as a seven-year-old that Davis got the taste for rugby, and his time at Coleg Sir Gar cemented his desire to take the game seriously. One of the country’s leading rugby colleges – whose latest notable graduate is newly-capped Wales wing Josh Adams – has also provided the new Wales U20 cohort with Scarlets wing Tommy Rogers and Bath lock Rhys Davies.
 
With 16 players in this U20 squad already steeped in the culture of the age grade below – the U18s are also coached by Geraint Lewis, Chris Horsman and Jason Strange – was there much, if any, change of approach? “There’s more of a physical demand now,” Davis answers. “You’re playing against bigger boys, so you need to emphasise your physical training, but there’s no let-up in terms of skills work. Training in general is more intense and demanding.”
 
In order to compete with some of the best sides in the world at this summer’s World Cup in France (where Wales will play New Zealand, Australia and Japan), Davis says the training needs to be harder. Lucky for him, he enjoys it. “The coaches vary it all the time, so we’re always doing something different, going through drills we’ve never done before.”
 
He praises the atmosphere created by the crowd at Friday night’s 36-3 win at Stadiwm Zip World. “It was a great way to start the Six Nations campaign. We’ve set the benchmark now so we’ve got to improve, especially since we’ve got England on Friday night,” says Davis, who made his Scarlets debut in the Anglo-Welsh Cup against an experienced Exeter Chiefs side in November. “We played England on that tour last summer and won, but they’re going to be a step up again this time. We’ve got to be prepared for that.”
 
Scarlets is clearly a good place for any young player to be right now. Davis has brushed shoulders with the senior squad already, and it made him even more determined to chase his dream.
 
“There was a period where I got called up to the first team for a week to train, which was a bit overwhelming at first,” he admits. “You’re there training with Jonathan Davies and Gareth Davies. You watch them on TV and look at how they play, but when you actually train with them you learn so much from the way they communicate with each other, and they give you pointers. I loved it.”
 
Incidentally, those two players he mentions enjoyed fine Wales U20 careers of their own; something Davis and the Class of 2018 are eager to replicate this year.