Jonathan Davies not expecting warm welcome when Clermont face Ospreys
Thursday 14 January 2016 16:02, UK
Jonathan Davies is relishing facing Ospreys live on Sky Sports on Friday, but says he isn't expecting a warm welcome from his Wales team-mates.
Playing for a team abroad brings with it new opportunities to travel to places you have not yet visited - but clearly not always!
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I'm looking forward to heading back to Wales to take on the Ospreys. The Liberty Stadium is not a place that I have come away from with many wins, so I'm looking to change that on Friday night.
People have been asking about my desire to get one over Scarlets' Welsh rivals, but that hasn't entered my mind in all honesty. No matter who I am playing for, the win is always important. For me, the focus is on getting the victory with Clermont, and putting ourselves in a strong position to qualify for the knock-out stages.
Dan Biggar has very kindly sorted out my family with some passes for the game, but I am quite certain the niceties will end there on Friday night.
We've come close to winning this European competition a few times, and after losing last year's final of course we're looking to go one better, but the reality is if you look too far ahead, you could look silly by not making it out of your pool.
Ospreys are a very strong side, particularly at home, so we know that we need to be at our absolute best if we are going to beat them.
Dan Biggar has very kindly sorted out my family with some passes for the game, but I am quite certain the niceties will end there on Friday night. It won't be a typically warm Welsh welcome for any of us Clermont boys, I'm sure.
I'm going to take a bit of time to catch up with the family after the game and fly home by myself. I've got to get back to France fairly quickly so it's not going to be a long visit but on the bright side, I get to see them all and still save on half the flights!
We are coming into the Ospreys game on the back of a very satisfying win over Bordeaux Begles. Last time we went there in the league, they scored 50 points against us so to go there and play as well as we did was very rewarding.
The game looked like it was going to turn a bit heated, but we kept our cool and stayed focused on the job at hand. Staying focused was a good battle for us to win. It's important because results matter, but momentum is what takes you through a campaign, so if you manage to get more than just a win out of a game, it's a great help.
On a personal note, it's been great to get back onto the field. I've been back for about four weeks now and each game has brought something different. That first game back was certainly tough on the lungs!
I've taken a few bumps and bruises along the way, which is something I haven't been used to over the last six months or so, but it's a great feeling to be back in the thick of it.
Some people struggle when they come back from injury because you're nervous that the injury will reoccur. In my case, while I wouldn't refer to it as fortunate, I have had a few injuries in the past, so I was prepared for the process of coming out of rehab. The physios and doctors wouldn't have sent me out there if I wasn't ready, so I was confident my body would handle the rigours of it, which meant I was able to just get on with the job at hand.
It goes without saying that I hope to stay injury-free for the rest of my career and never have to go through long-term rehab again. However, if I do need to go through all of that again, I can only hope that I time things a little better.
I was indoors while all the guys were running around in a good bit of heat, and managed to make my way onto the field just as things were getting pretty cold. I missed practicing with the boys while I was trapped in the gym, but it only took one or two runs for me to regret missing it quite so much!
