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| Birth name | John Davies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 1 February 1969 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Carmarthen, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft (1.8 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 17 st (110 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Ysgol y Preseli | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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John Davies (born 1 February 1969) is a former Welsh rugby union prop. He spent much of his professional career playing for Llanelli RFC, and subsequently the Llanelli Scarlets regional side, where he now works as an academy coach. Davies also made 34 appearances for the Wales national team, scoring two tries.
Davies made his international debut for Wales on 16 February 1991, in a match against Ireland during the Five Nations. The match, which was played in Cardiff, resulted in a 21–21 draw. He was capped again that year against France, and once the following season.
He was included in Wales' squad for the Five Nations of 1993, mostly as an unused bench replacement, but came on in the final game against France. He was also capped against Zimbabwe, in which Davies scored a try. He was also capped against Canada and Japan that year.
He was capped over 10 times for Wales in 1994, including all the matches in the Five Nations. The following season he played in the 1995 World Cup in South Africa, though Wales did not make the quarter-finals, he played in all three pool matches. In 1996 he was capped nine times for Wales, including a match against the Barbarian F.C. He played matches against Zimbabwe and the Springboks in 1998.
On 18 February 1995, he became the first player in Five Nations rugby to receive a red card when French referee Didier Mené dismissed him for kicking Ben Clarke at Cardiff during a match against England. [1]
In 2003, Davies was named as one of four senior props in the inaugural squad of the newly founded Llanelli Scarlets regional side. [2] He missed just one game during the 2003–04 season, starting all but five, with Jon Thiel preferred for five of the last seven games. He also played in all but one of the Scarlets' games the following season, six of them off the bench, as Thiel was preferred for the first three matches of the season and Dave Hewett started the games against the Borders, the Ospreys and the Dragons in December and January.
The 2005–06 season saw the Scarlets struggle with injuries at the prop position; Davies was the only tighthead prop available following an injury to Ricky Davies in a pre-season friendly against Worcester Warriors. [3] Despite being involved in a car crash in the week leading up to the opening game of the season, Davies played the full 80 minutes against Edinburgh Gunners. [4] New Zealander Craig Dunlea was signed to alleviate the injury crisis in December 2005, [5] but Davies still played in all but two matches between the start of the season and 21 January, including all three Anglo-Welsh Cup pool matches and all six Heineken Cup pool matches. After that, he started just five more matches, but two of those were the Anglo-Welsh Cup semi-final and final.
In May 2006, Davies signed a one-year contract extension with the Scarlets, [6] but at the age of 37, he started just six times during the season, with Dunlea and newly signed prop Deacon Manu [7] preferred for the majority of games. On 6 April 2007, Davies became the second player to make 100 appearances for the Llanelli Scarlets – following Adam Jones, who had reached the milestone earlier in the season – when he started their 53–11 win at home to Border Reivers. [8] Davies retired from professional rugby at the end of the season, playing his final game on the last day of the season in a 19–10 home win over Connacht. [9]
Davies made a brief return to first-team rugby when he played for Crymych RFC in September 2018 at the age of 49. [10]
Philip Bennett was a Welsh rugby union player who played as a fly-half for Llanelli RFC and the Wales national team. He began his career in 1966, and a year later he had taken over from Barry John as Llanelli's first-choice fly-half. He made 414 appearances for the Scarlets over the course of a 15-year career he scored 131 tries, 43 drop goals, 293 pens and 523 convs. He made his Wales debut in 1969, but it was not until John's retirement from rugby in 1972 that Bennett became a regular starter for his country. He led Wales to the Five Nations Championship title, including the Grand Slam in 1978, which culminated with his retirement from Wales duty.
The Scarlets are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby competitions. The club was originally named the Llanelli Scarlets but was renamed at the start of the 2008–09 rugby season.
Colin Charvis is a former professional rugby union player. A back row forward, Charvis was equally adept as a flanker or at number 8. Born in Sutton Coldfield, England, he captained the Wales national team from 2002 to 2004, and also played for the British & Irish Lions on their tour of Australia in 2001.
Stephen Michael Jones is a Welsh rugby union coach and former player who played primarily at fly-half. He played more than 100 times for Wales and six times for the British & Irish Lions.
Gareth John James Jenkins is a Welsh former rugby union player and coach. Born in Burry Port, Carmarthenshire, he played for Llanelli RFC for 17 years from his debut in September 1969. He was appointed coach of the club in 1982. In 2003, he was appointed as coach of the newly formed Llanelli Scarlets regional side, guiding them to the Celtic League title in their first season. Following the resignation of Steve Hansen as coach of the Wales national team, Jenkins applied for the position and was one of two finalists only for Mike Ruddock to be appointed without applying. Jenkins finally took over as Wales coach when Ruddock resigned during the 2006 Six Nations, but his tenure was unsuccessful, winning just six of his 20 games in charge. He was sacked on 30 September 2007, the day after Wales failed to qualify for the quarter-finals of the 2007 Rugby World Cup. He returned to the Scarlets as their head of regional development and recruitment in June 2008.
Barry Davies is a retired Welsh rugby union footballer. Davies has also been capped by Wales at international level. His primary position was at fullback.
Dafydd Aled Rees Jones is a Welsh former rugby union player who played as a flanker for the Scarlets regional side and the Wales national team. First capped in 2002, he made 42 appearances in a seven-year international career. He also played over 200 times for Llanelli, including appearances for both Llanelli RFC and the Scarlets.
Alix Jon Popham is a Welsh former rugby union player who played as a number eight or flanker. Born in Newport, he began his career with Newport RFC in 1998, before moving to Leeds Tykes in 2002. He spent three years in England before returning to Wales with the Llanelli Scarlets in 2005. In 2008, he moved to France to play for Brive and was made captain ahead of the 2009–10 season. He retired due to injury at the end of the 2010–11 season, having made over 320 appearances in 13 years as a professional. He also played internationally for the Wales national team, earning 33 caps.
Lee Byrne is a Welsh former professional rugby union and rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s.
Matthew Dane Cardey is a former professional rugby union player who played as a full-back. Born in Papakura, New Zealand, he played for the Wales national team.
Kenneth James Owens is a Welsh rugby union player who plays as a hooker for the Scarlets and Wales. He made his debut for the Scarlets in 2006, taking over from Matthew Rees as their first-choice hooker upon Rees' departure for the Cardiff Blues in 2013. He also served as backup to Rees, among others, for Wales following his debut against Namibia at the 2011 Rugby World Cup. In 2016, he took over as Wales' first-choice hooker, and in January 2023, following almost a year out with a back injury, he was named as captain for the 2023 Six Nations Championship.
Jon Thiel is a Canadian former rugby union footballer who played as a prop.
Jonathan Davies is a Welsh professional rugby union player who plays at centre for the Scarlets and the Wales national team. He is commonly known as "Fox", differentiating him from the Jonathan Davies who played both rugby union and rugby league during the 1980s and 1990s. His brother is James Davies, who also played professional rugby for Wales as a flanker.
Rhys Priestland is a Welsh international rugby union player who plays as a fly-half for Cardiff Rugby and the Wales national team. Although he primarily plays as a fly-half, he is also capable of playing at full-back. Born in Llangathen, Carmarthenshire, he began his career with Llanelli RFC before progressing to the Scarlets regional side. After eight years with the Scarlets, he moved to England to play for Bath in the English Premiership, where he spent six seasons before returning to Wales with Cardiff Rugby. He made his Wales debut in 2011, and earned 50 caps – including being named in the squad for the 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cups – before his move to England made him ineligible for selection.
Joshua Turnbull is a Welsh former professional rugby union player, who played in the back row and second row. He played for the Scarlets and Cardiff Rugby in the United Rugby Championship, and at club level for Carmarthen Quins, Llanelli and Llandovery. He played internationally for Wales at under-16, under-18, under-19 and under-20 levels, and earned 13 caps for the senior team between 2011 and 2022. Born in Haverfordwest, he is a fluent Welsh speaker.
Robert McCusker is a Welsh former rugby union player, who played across the back row. McCusker began his career with the Scarlets, and also played for London Irish and the Ospreys before retiring. McCusker also played internationally for Wales.
Samson Lee is a former Wales international rugby union player. Lee played for the Scarlets, as well as local teams Llanelli and Ammanford. His position is prop forward. Lee has represented Wales, making his debut against Argentina in November 2013.
Jordan Rhys Williams is a Welsh rugby union footballer who plays for the Dragons. His regular position is at full-back, but he has also played at fly-half and on the wing. He began his career with amateur side New Dock Stars RFC, before being signed by Llanelli RFC and ultimately breaking into the Scarlets regional side. However, he struggled to find playing time with the Scarlets and moved to Bristol in 2016, only to return to Wales with the Dragons two years later. He has also played internationally for Wales at under-16, under-18 and under-20 level, as well as for the Wales Sevens team.
Liam Brian Williams is a Welsh professional rugby union player who plays for Kubota Spears in Japan Rugby League One. At international level, he has represented Wales, having made his test debut against New Zealand in 2012, and the British & Irish Lions in 2017 and 2021. Williams has previously played for Scarlets, Saracens, and Cardiff.
Luke Davies is a Welsh rugby union player who plays as a scrum-half for the Ospreys. Davies previously played for the Scarlets and Jersey Reds.
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