Jonathan Davies to make Scarlets exit at end of season

Scarlets have announced that Wales centre Jonathan Davies will be leaving the Welsh province at the end of the ongoing campaign.

Davies made his Scarlets debut against Northampton Saints in 2006 and was part of the side that went on to win the Pro12 title in the 2016/17 season.

After playing for the province between 2006 and 2014, he made a switch to Clermont before rejoining Scarlets in 2016. Overall, he has made 209 appearances for Scarlets scoring 55 tries across the two stints.

Davies has played 96 Tests for Wales captaining them on four occasions. He also featured in two Six Nations Grand Slam triumph and a further two championship wins apart from featuring in the 2011 and 2019 Rugby World Cup squads.

He also represented British and Irish Lions in the 2013 and 2017 tours of Australia and New Zealand respectively.

“It has been incredible to play for a team I supported when I was a young boy. I have enjoyed every minute and have some wonderful memories, but everything has to come to an end.

“I remember my first day coming into the Academy at Stradey, I remember walking into the changing room for training with the likes, Vernon Cooper, Matthew Rees, Iestyn Thomas, Alix Popham – who were the ‘guvnors’ of the changing room – and putting my bag on the bench and coming in afterwards and it was on the floor; I tried another spot the next day and the same happened! it was a great learning; myself, Ken and my generation were probably the last ones to have experience of that old school environment.

“There was a span of five or six games in which I never enjoyed rugby as much as I did during the end of that season when we won the PRO12. I have always said, if we were still in European competition at that point we would have won it.

“The rugby we played was so much fun and so natural, we were operating at a level that we didn’t really need to talk about what was expected of us. It felt as if we were operating at our highest level possible and the talent in that group was so high it showed in the games leading up to the final and then in the final.

“Playing alongside my brother was another special moment and winning a trophy as part of the same side is something I am very proud of.”