Jonathan Davies – Will He Be The Next One To Go?

 

With Scarlets captain, Jonathan Davies's contract expiring at the end of the season, will he be the next home-grown player, in an already long line, to leave the Welsh game?

The British and Irish Lions centre could be next; following in the footsteps of George North, who left the Scarlets for a more lucrative contract at Northampton last season.

Wales have witnessed a mass exodus in recent months, as a large amount of their international stars are now playing their rugby in France or England; free of the strict salary caps operated by Welsh region’s rugby.

To name but a few:

  • George North (Northampton)
  • Jamie Roberts (Racing Metro)
  • Dan Lydiate (Racing Metro)
  • Mike Phillips (Bayonne)
  • James Hook (Perpignan)

Welsh rugby is in desperate need to hold on to some of their own talent, with none of their regional teams setting any mark in Europe, with little Heineken Cup success.

However, Davies, now 25, maintains that his main ambition is to be successful on the field, above all else.

"Personally I want to be competing and as long as the Scarlets' ambitions are the same, I'll be more than happy to stay," Davies told BBC Sport.

In addition to this, speaking to the Sports Wales Programme last week, he relayed: "At the end of the day you play rugby to win games.

"You hear the boys talking about new experience and change of life, but for me I play rugby to win games and that's what I want to do this season and for the rest of my career."

Although being part of both a winning Lions side and Wales Six Nations team, Davies had a difficult summer in the headlines, due to keeping legendary centre, Brian O’Driscoll, out of the line-up for the final Lions test.

Warren Gatland’s controversial selection sparked a press field-day, as Davies was continually hounded by the press; to such an extent that he considered himself "public enemy No 1".

However, the criticism was hugely unfair, as Davies not only starred in the Lions’ final tour game against the New South Wales Waratahs, but also excelled in the final test of the series under the monumental amount of pressure placed on-top of him.

Alongside Davies, other Welsh box-office players, Sam Warburton and Leigh Halfpenny are all out of contract at the end of the season.

Will they stay in their home country or be the next bunch of names added to the long line of disappearing Welsh talent?