The Ospreys lock will win his 61st cap as one of 10 Welsh changes in Round 4 of the NatWest 6 Nations at the Principality Stadium, packing down with Cory Hill in the second row.
Ever since he made his senior Wales debut as a 70th minute replacement for Shane Williams in a 26-13 win over Scotland at Murrayfield in 2009, his father, the former Pontypridd second row Bleddyn Davies, backs his son to score a try. It has so far proved to be a rather fruitless flutter.
It was Davies senior who persuaded his son, an outside half at Y Pant School and Pontyclun RFC, to switch to the pack and follow in his footsteps and become a second row. He was capped by Wales U16 and 18 before captaining the Under 19 side to a Six Nations Grand Slam and a win over Australia in 2005.
He also led Wales into the Under 19 Junior World Cup before earning a full-time professional contract at Cardiff Blues and then graduating into the senior Wales side. He then spent two years in the English Premiership at Wasps before returning to Wales in 2016 with the Ospreys on a National Dual Contract.
But while Davies senior did a great job in encouraging his son to reach the heights in Wales’ national sport, his hopes of picking up some winnings on the back of what would be a never-to-be-forgotten moment for the family with a first international try have been dashed thus far.
“I don’t know why my father stuck me in the second row – I should have stayed in the backs. He keeps putting money on me to score, but I haven’t scored in 60 games,” said Davies, 15/2 to score and 150/1 to get a hat-trick.
“He has been onto me already about that. He reckons he has wasted a couple of grand over the last few years betting on me to score a try.
“He hasn’t learned his lesson, but he’s worried that the one time he doesn’t have a bet I will score. Hopefully I will sneak over at the weekend and keep him happy.”
Making his dad happy is one thing, but the 31-year-old couldn’t be happier himself having finally put behind him a series of injuries to regain his peak form and force himself back into the reckoning for the 2019 World Cup. A ticket to Japan seemed a long way off when he wasn’t picked for the Under Armour Series in the autumn.
“It’s nice to be back because I haven’t started for over a year. I’m building my way back into the squad,” added Davies.
“I had major injuries to both knees when I returned and at first I thought it would be plain sailing to come back. But it didn’t work out like that because I couldn’t put in the work throughout the week in training.
“Maybe when I started at the Ospreys I was a little bit undercooked, which was my own fault. When I wasn’t picked for the Autumn I sat down with the coaches and they gave me some things to work on, the major one being getting myself fully fit.
“I’m 31 now and you think that all the miles you’ve got in the bank will help you, but unless you can put in the work week in, week out you can’t get away with it. It is the consistency of training that you need to be able to put yourself on the field and I couldn’t do that.
“Maybe the years of overtraining caught up with me, but I’m back in a good place now. I still think I’ve got a lot to offer and I’m just enjoying myself to a part of this squad.
“That old saying that you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone really hit home in the Autumn when I wasn’t picked. I didn’t come back to Wales to be a journeyman or not to play.
“I thought ‘I want to get back in the Wales set-up, what have I got to do’. The main thing was to get myself right physically and mentally so I could train hard. I thought my injury was going to take three or four months, but the reality was it ended up taking 18 months to clear.”
With youngsters like Seb Davies, Adam Beard and Rory Thornton snapping at his heels, Davies knows he needs to be right at the top of his game to join Alun Wyn Jones and Hill in the frame for selection. And Jake Ball is on his way back to full fitness after his injury in the autumn.
“It was good to be on the bench in the Six Nations and I realise you are never owed a start, you have to earn it. Sometimes you can look past your club and straight to your country, and maybe in the past I have been guilty of doing that,” said Davies.
“You think things are just going to happen for you, but you’ve got to get your bread and butter rugby right. That means playing well for the Ospreys, which I wasn’t doing when I started, but I feel I’ve put that right.
“After the Autumn I built into the European games and then into the Six Nations. I had to bide my time because Alun Wyn and Cory were playing very well, but now I’ve got my chance and it is up to me to take it.
I’ve always built my game on physicality, that’s the way I like to play the game, and to do that you have to train hard. You can’t just rock up on the field and run into brick walls, it simply doesn’t happen like that.
“I was a bit stubborn after I had the operation on my knee thinking everything would be alright. It just took me longer to get back than I expected.
“I played at the end of the last season, which wasn’t a great idea. I was fit to play rugby, but not at that level.
“Not going on the summer tour didn’t help my cause, but I put my family first and I was at home for the birth of my child and I was there to help. Taking myself out of rugby was good and put things into perspective.
“It also gave me the hunger to get back. I wanted to get back for the Autumn, but wasn’t picked and rightly so. I think I’ve kicked on since then and it is great to be back because playing for my country has always been a dream for me.”
