Gareth Davies is a confident, abrasive character that puts a high stake on winning.
Unfortunately, every now and then, Davies gets a little carried away.
Heading into last year’s Six Nations clash against Ireland, the Scarlets and Wales No.9 declared:
“We are targeting a bonus-point win this weekend against Ireland so hopefully we can score some tries and come away with a good win.”
He was not content to leave his talking to pre-match hype and dressing room cut-outs. With Johnny Sexton struggling with a couple of kicks, during that game, Davies was only too happy to get in his ear.
In the end, it was Sexton and Ireland leaving with the last laugh. Ireland secured a try-scoring bonus after 53 minutes and Jacob Stockdale’s late score was his side’s fifth of the day.
Davies had a chance to gain a measure of revenge, a little over a month later, when Scarlets faced Leinster in the Champions Cup semi-final back at the Aviva Stadium.
One of the low points of Leinster’s victory, that day, was the injury sustained by Fergus McFadden when scoring his side’s third try of a blistering first half. With the clock already red, Leinster pressed on and a beautiful loop pass from Garry Ringrose gave McFadden a great scoring chance.
Why Scarlets winger Steff Evans decided to slide in with his knees is beyond us but it did not prevent the score. It only ended up injuring McFadden and ending his season prematurely.
On Saturday, at Parc Y Scarlets, McFadden was back playing and his first-half try gave Leinster a foot-hold in a gripping Guinness PRO14 game. James Lowe got them in front by the half-time break.
Once again, with the clock in the red, Leinster looked to make Scarlets pay. Jamison Gibson-Park found Ross Byrne to his left and the out-half’s well-timed pass gave Lowe the room he needed to dive over in the corner.
As he did so, however, in came Davies with a football-style sliding tackle that caught the Kiwi and was completely reckless. Over on eir Sport, former Leinster star Luke Fitzgerald said:
“I think that’s such a dirty bit of play. They (the match officials) missed that badly.
“He needs to be going in here with his upper body. It’s a bad shot, really… There is no bravery involved in that. I hate it.”
"There is no bravery involved in that. I hate it" @lukefitz11 & @docallaghan4 were unhappy with the slide from Gareth Davies as James Lowe scored on the stroke of half-time. #GuinnessPRO14 #SCAvLEI pic.twitter.com/2R5qa2ljvo
— eir Sport (@eirSport) September 8, 2018
Scarlets went into the break 14-10 down but scored the next 13 points to get into a strong, winning position that could not be prevented even when Rhys Ruddock got over for a converted try.
It will be interesting to see if more comes from Davies’ actions, although we expect him to be in the clear and available for Scarlets’ next game.
Needless to say, the return match will be worth watching.
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