Davies gets his moment in sun

When Jonny Wilkinson won the World Cup for England 10 years ago, Gareth Davies was trying to find his way out of the darker recesses of the Welsh League at Ystrad Mynach.

After a largely unrewarding apprenticeship, often in front of the proverbial two men and a dog, Davies gravitated to the part-time Welsh Premiership, where he played for the Cardiff club team, sometimes in front of a few hundred fans.

A contracted place in the supporting cast for the Blues regional squad offered hope of a belated breakthrough. In four seasons of the Pro12, they gave him nothing more than two starts, hardly enough to suggest he was on a collision course with Wilkinson.