Alec Michael Davis (23 January 1942 – 10 May 2022) was an

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

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 ...

player and head coach. He played rugby as a

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

in his youth for

Torquay Athletic RFC Torquay Athletic RFC is an England, English rugby union team formed in 1876 that is based in Torquay, Devon. The club operates 5 senior men's teams as well as youth and mini teams, with the men's first team currently playing in Tribute Cornwall/ ...

and represented the county of

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

before being selected for his first

cap in 1963. He remained in rugby all the rest of his life, continuing to coach youth and senior teams in his home town of

Sherborne Sherborne is a market town and civil parish in north west Dorset, in South West England. It is sited on the River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The parish includes the hamlets of Nether Coombe and Lower Clatcombe. T ...

Early life and rugby career

Davis was born in

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of B ...

and went to

Torquay Boys' Grammar School Torquay Boys' Grammar School is a selective boys grammar school in Torquay, Devon, England. , it had 1,113 students. The school was founded in 1904. It is situated in Shiphay, south of Torbay Hospital, not far from the A3022 and Torre railway ...

before training as a teacher at

St Luke's College, Exeter St Luke's Campus is a small university campus which is part of the University of Exeter. The School of Sport and Health Sciences, the Graduate School of Education, and the Medical School are all based at St Luke's. St Luke's is also home to the ...

, where he was studying when he was first selected for the England team in 1963. He also studied at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth and

HMS Raleigh Six ships and one shore establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Raleigh'', after Sir Walter Raleigh: * HMS ''Raleigh'' was a 32-gun fifth rate, previously the American . She was captured in 1778 by and and was commissioned int ...

. In club rugby he played for the Devonport Services R.F.C., Harlequins and the Combined Services team. He played for the

and

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

county rugby teams and was captain when Staffordshire won the 1969–70 Rugby Union County Championship. He also played water polo and basketball.

International career

Player

His arrival on the international scene as a player was significant enough that he was profiled in the December 1963 issue of

Rugby World ''Rugby World'' is a monthly rugby union magazine running since October 1960. It is published monthly by Future plc and edited by Owain Jones who took over from long-standing editor Paul Morgan in January 2012. Paul Morgan was long considered a ...

magazine. He was a teacher and coach at

Sherborne School (God and My Right) , established = 705 by Aldhelm, re-founded by King Edward VI 1550 , closed = , type = Public school Independent, boarding school , religion = Church of England , president = , chair_label = Chairman of the governors , ...

(1974–2002) where, alongside Phil Jones between 1975 and 1978, he coached the school to four unbeaten seasons with 35 out of 35 school matches being won. Only a handful of games were lost during a coaching partnership which spanned six seasons.

Coach

He was appointed head coach of England for the 1979/80 season, the only England senior coach ever appointed on the merits of their achievements as a school coach rather than a club coach. His international coaching career spanned four seasons to the end of the 1982/83 season. In his first season as coach England won the

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

in the

1980 Five Nations Championship The 1980 Five Nations Championship was the 51st Five Nations Championship series of the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of , , , , and . Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this ...

School and club coach

He coached England in a strictly amateur era and as such he continued to teach and coach at

. With the formation of

Sherborne RFC Sherborne Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club in Dorset in the south west of England. The club was established in 1980. It has a membership of 100 senior players and a further 300 boys and girls in the junior section. The club runs two ...

in the early 1980s he was soon enlisted to help raise the standard of play at this burgeoning club and he coached a variety of sides within the Senior and Junior section on-and-off over a period of thirty years.

Personal life

Davis died in May 2022, at the age of 80.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Mike 1942 births 2022 deaths England international rugby union players English rugby union coaches English rugby union players Rugby union players from Lichfield England national rugby union team coaches Staffordshire RFU players Rugby union locks