Jonathan Davies happy to be back in Wales fold after World Cup woe
Thursday 21 January 2016 18:22, UK
Jonathan Davies talks about his Wales selection, Clermont's loss to Ospreys and their upcoming Champions Cup match against Bordeaux-Begles on Sky Sports...
It's always a great relief to see your name in a squad announcement. With all the talent coming through in Wales at the moment it makes days like that all the more nervous.
The way the younger guys stepped up during several injury crises in the World Cup was brilliant, so there is no shortage of talent around. With that in mind, I'm honoured and excited to take part in another Six Nations.
It says a lot about the core of the squad that there is an air of familiarity in the names that appear on the sheet.
Not only is that a credit to the way the coaches have invested in players, but also great to see after our World Cup was disrupted so much by players being forced out.
"Of course with a side like England they're always going to be a threat no matter when you play them, but I'm excited to hopefully line up opposite them at Twickenham."
We were all bitterly disappointed not to have progressed past the quarter-finals of the World Cup, but now we have a chance to put things right as best we can with a good campaign in the Six Nations.
On a personal note I'm more than a little eager to get back out there and hopefully play for Wales again - it's something you only need to be away from for a little while in order to miss it terribly. Hopefully I can make a good contribution to the team.
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The other sides in the Six Nations are keeping things very interesting. England have named a squad with a lot of new faces, and with a completely new coaching staff they will offer a fresh threat.
You never know when you'd prefer to meet a side like that. On the one hand you want to face them later in the competition so that you get a chance to see what they're about, but on the other hand you may want to get them early in the hopes that they're still getting used to new ideas and game plans.
Of course with a side like England they're always going to be a threat no matter when you play them, but I'm excited to hopefully line up opposite them at Twickenham.
They aren't the only side that pose a threat, all of the sides look to be bringing new elements in, and it's up to us to hit the ground running.
We can't focus too much on what others are up to, so the only two things I am focussing on for the next two months is scoring tries for Wales and making sure my brother hasn't made a complete mess of my flat in Cardiff.
One newcomer to our squad is Aled Davies, who is someone I know from my early days at Scarlets. He was in the academy at the time and I remember him fighting back from a fairly serious injury and coming out strong.
To deal with that kind of injury when you're still young and trying to make your way in the game can be crippling to your confidence, but the way he conducted himself shows a lot about his determination. He will bring a lot of that to the Wales setup and I wish him well.
Another young player I remember from those days was a kid by the name of Sam Davies. He's the son of Nigel Davies who was our coach at the time, and Sam was often sitting by during our practices.
I remember that from a young age he looked completely comfortable in that environment and that's why his performance against us last weekend at the Liberty Stadium was unfortunately not very surprising.
All credit to Ospreys, they played better than us in the second half of that game and Sam's control of the game was very impressive, but we know we can play a lot better than that.
We won't dwell too much on that game, our focus is now on getting a win against Bordeaux-Begles and hopefully progressing to the next stage of the Champions Cup.
