Davies starred in the Scarlets big home win over the Southern Kings (54-14) to prove he is back to full fitness after missing almost a year of competitive action. He scored two tries, made another and looked as though he had never been away from the game.
Davies suffered a bad foot injury in the defeat to Australia last November and had to undergo surgery. He had managed only one friendly appearance before the game against the Kings.
He carried the ball 15 times, made 104 metres, beat five defenders, made 12 passes and didn’t miss a tackle. Not a bad nights work and a timely reminder to his international coach that with games against Scotland, Australia, Tonga and South Africa to come next month he is ready to step up.
With his former Scarlets team mate Scott Williams ruled out with injury at the moment his return to fitness and form will be a welcome boost for Gatland, who has also got Dragons centre Tyler Morgan on the sidelines at the moment.
“Jonathan deserves a special mention in his first game back after a frustrating start to the season. I don’t think he made a mistake,” said Scarlets coach Wayne Pivac.
“He also had the responsibility of captaining the side. Not only did he lead from the front, he made spot-on decisions in the wide channels and took his tries well.
“He thoroughly deserved his man-of-the-match award and I’m really pleased for him. He’s a class player who showed against the Kings that he’s over his injury problem.
“For Jonathan to come back in after the time he’s been out and put in a performance like that is extremely impressive. He’s been very frustrated at being on the sidelines, but he had a very strong all round game and I’m very pleased with him.”
Pivac wants to get more game time into his midfield ace as the season begins to ramp up with the return of the Heineken Champions Cup this month. That means he can expect plenty of game time as the Scarlets aim to make the knock-out stages in Europe once again.
“The best thing for Jonathan is to get him back out on the bike. He’ll be wanting to play, we have three big matches before the Welsh players go into camp and we’d like to think he’d be featuring quite heavily.”
