‘Never say never’ – why Davies returned to Scarlets

Nigel Davies was meant to be working as a management consultant this week but now he is preparing to take on Northampton Saints as boss of the Scarlets.

The 60-year-old has returned to the Llanelli club for a third time as interim director of rugby and will be calling the shots at Franklin’s Gardens in the Champions Cup on Sunday (15:15 GMT).

Scarlets are bottom of the United Rugby Championship (URC) and are winless in the premier European tournament, albeit with a chance of sneaking through to the last 16 – or at least dropping into the Challenge Cup.

That led to the board opting for a change of structure with former Llanelli and Wales centre returning above head coach Dwayne Peel, who led the club to the URC play-offs last season.

Davies has not been involved in the professional game since leaving Gloucester in 2014, which was followed by spells at Ebbw Vale and Merthyr.

He was running his own management consultancy business, working largely in the aerospace sector, until getting the call from Scarlets.

“It has been a bit of a whirlwind. The board had a review and felt there a need for new impetus at a crucial time for Welsh rugby,” he said.

“I was contacted, asked if I would be interested and it didn’t take me very long to make a decision because this club is very dear to me, and also the people within it.”

On his unlikely return to professional sport, he added: “I’m old enough to know that the phrase ‘never say never’ is very true”.

Davies’ arrival means Peel, who paid the price for festive derby defeats to Ospreys and Dragons then a home Champions Cup defeat to Pau, will no longer be the man in charge.

After returning from Ulster as head coach in 2021, the former scrum-half will retain his job title but reports to Davies.

“It’s probably not great for him and they [the coaches] probably didn’t want to see me in here on Tuesday, and I understand that,” said the director of rugby, who spoke to Peel before taking the job.

“But he’s a passionate Scarlet. He knows that a lot of the work he has had to do has taken him away from where he needs to be.

“We have taken that pressure away and he’s now allowed to do what he is really good at.”

Davies wants to make it quite clear he is the man charged with making the big decisions for the next five months.

“It’s very straightforward, it’s not complicated at all,” he said. “From day one I was quite clear that if I was to come in I would have to have complete accountability for performance and selection.

“People need to know that. It’s a line of clear responsibility and within that a big part of what I do is to work with the coaches and the coaching group.

“Dwayne is still head of that coaching group. I sit above that in terms of working with them, helping them to do what they need to do.

“Dwayne is completely 100% on the field now, he’s an excellent coach and that’s what we need him doing.”

Scarlets have three games left before the start of the Six Nations with a tough trip to Northampton followed by URC fixtures against Ulster in Llanelli and Benetton in Treviso.

After a chastening first half of the season, Davies is confident his squad can turn around their fortunes in the league and Europe.

“The mindset is a big thing. This is an opportunity for a reset for everyone,” he added.

“I’m excited about the group. We’ve got some tremendous players, we’ve got some tremendous coaches, we’ve got a fantastic opportunity on Sunday to go up against one of the top teams in Europe.

“Results haven’t gone the Scarlets’ way this season but games have been close.

“I’ll be very mindful not to try and change everything, because this is the end of day two, but we have refocused and simplified things.

“We’re looking at being really clear about the DNA of this team, what it is that we are as a Scarlets team.”