Christmas Howard Davies (25 December 1916 - 5 November 1987) was a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

full-back who played club rugby for

Llanelli Llanelli ("St Elli's Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarthen. ...

and

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

. He won six caps for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Rugby career

Davies was one of very few Welsh players to represent his country on either side of the Second World War. When he was first selected to play for Wales, he was playing club rugby for Swansea, having started his rugby career with Burry Port. His first international game was against Scotland as part of the

1939 Home Nations Championship The 1939 Home Nations Championship was the thirty-fifth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Five Nations, and prior to that, the Home Nations, this was the fifty-second series of the nor ...

under the captaincy of

Wilf Wooller Wilfred Wooller (20 November 1912 – 10 March 1997) was a Welsh cricketer, rugby union footballer, cricket administrator and journalist. He was acclaimed as one of the greatest all-round sportsmen that Wales has ever produced. He captained G ...

. Wales beat Scotland 11–3, and Davies was reselected for the very next match at

Ravenhill Stadium Ravenhill Stadium (known as the Kingspan Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is a rugby stadium located in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home of Ulster Rugby. With the opening of a new stand for the 2014 Heineken Cup quarter-final against ...

in Belfast against Ireland. Wales were victorious, but with the outbreak of World War II, this was the last match either team would play for eight years. When international rugby was re-introduced, Davies, now playing for Llanelli, was one of only two capped players to be chosen for the first Welsh match in the

1947 Five Nations Championship The 1947 Five Nations Championship was the eighteenth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the fifty-third series of the northern hemisphere rugby u ...

against England; the other being captain Haydn Tanner. The England game would be the only Wales match that Davies appeared on the losing side, as the final three games of the tournament Wales and Davies were victorious.

International matches played

WalesSmith (1980), pg 465. * 1947 * 1947 *

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

1939, 1947 * 1939, 1947

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Howard Welsh rugby union players Rugby union fullbacks 1916 births 1987 deaths Swansea RFC players Llanelli RFC players Wales international rugby union players Rugby union players from Llanelli