Leeds to Namibia and back: Phil Davies recalls Tykes’ milestone moments

Indeed, it is highly unlikely the ebullient Welshman would ever have risen to such a lofty position without cutting his coaching teeth with Leeds Tykes more than 25 years ago.

Davies’s latest spell back in West Yorkshire, helping drag National One Tykes back from the brink over the last two years, has merely underlined the qualities and experience that attracted chairman Bill Beaumont to appoint him in the crucial global role with the sport’s governing body.

It is a fitting time, though, to look back on Davies’s milestone moments during his time with Leeds which started in 1996 when the former Wales lock, at the age of just 32, became player/coach of a side down in National Division Four.

Five years later, they would be gracing the Premiership.

Davies recalled to The Yorkshire Post: “In the early days, the first defining moment is something I always remember.

“It was driving from home over to Chandos where we were having a key meeting before we played Wharfedale at Headingley and that was our first promotion.

“I do recall the relief from finding out that Rugby Lions had lost a game which meant it became just the case for us where we knew if we’d beat Wharfedale we’d be up.

“We did that and it was so memorable. The second really big occasion was when we actually lost to Rotherham at Headingley in 2000.

“It was 16-15, a really tight game, and it essentially meant we ended up losing out on promotion. But it was such a milestone for us because it was such a big occasion; there was a crowd of more than 5,000.

“And it was a hell of a game. Rotherham had so many legends with people like John Bentley and Simon Bunting. It was a great team. They pipped us on the night but the year after we got promoted. We beat the leaders Worcester 30-13 at Headingley when we had Graham Mackay in the team. That put us a point in front of Worcester at the top and, with just a few games left, we never looked back.”

There had been a record crowd of 5,500 at Headingley that afternoon as Leeds recorded a 20th consecutive league victory.

Davies feels the defeat against Rotherham had been a building block rather than a hindrance – “it helped us so much” – and then came the big time.

“Once we were promoted into the Premiership, we built some more,” he added.

“In 2004, we hosted Toulouse at home (in a 33-21 defeat). They were the European champions, the team with Freddie Michalak, and then came the Powergen Cup win. Those were the milestone matches all coming through in 10 years. Phenomenal.”

Leeds’s 2005 Powergen Cup final win over Bath, when they were 4/1 underdogs, is arguably their finest hour. Davies said: “That was amazing. Going back further, we got to the semi-final and lost against Sale the year before. That was important, again just like the promotion games we lost to Rotherham.

“The day at Twickenham, though, was just a brilliant day for the players but also a really satisfying day to see a lot of the old committee guys who gave me my job in the first place.

“Handing the Cup over and seeing the smile on their faces and realising there were 60,000 people there, so many from Yorkshire, not just supporting us but Morley as well who won the Intermediate Cup that day as well as Sheffield Tigers taking the Junior Vase. It was a great day for Yorkshire rugby. It was a great day for Leeds. We’re still the only Yorkshire team to win a major trophy. That’s a great source of pride for all of us at the time and for Paul (Caddick) and Gary (Hetherington) and for the belief they had always had in what we were trying to do was brilliant.”

One of Davies’s other favourite moments came off the pitch.

“It was when we were awarded the Academy licence before we actually got promoted,” said the 58-year-old, who, since leaving Leeds in 2006, has coached the likes of Scarlets, Cardiff Blues, Wales Under-20s and Namibia.

“It was an amazing testimony to what we were trying to do developing players in the county.”

Leeds produced countless stars through their youth system, not least England players such as Danny Care, Luther Burrell, Jordan Crane and Calum Clark.

“It wasn’t just proud for the players we developed but also, of course, the coaches,” added Davies, with future England coach and current Leinster chief Stuart Lancaster being one.

“I remember Stuart coming on board as a development officer and then he was going back to working at Kettlethorpe School as a teacher. But because we got the academy licence we were able to give him a three-year contract. That’s when he became full-time as the academy manager. I take a lot of pride in that.

“We had Simon Middleton as defence coach, Simon Easterby who came in and he went on and coached at the highest level.

“Alan Dickens played for us and he is now England Saxons coach after being at Northampton, Gordon Ross was coaching at Worcester and is now at the Dragons, Carl Hogg is now development director at Worcester. There are a lot of players there who went on to coach; Tom Palmer played for Wasps and England and is now coaching out in France, Mike Shelley is coaching Canada so there’s a huge legacy of people who went on to be international players and international coaches from the Tykes.”

Pontefract-born Middleton, the England Women’s head coach and former Castleford RL winger, was named World Rugby coach of the year for 2021 last month.

And now Davies is World Rugby DoR having replaced ex-Ireland coach Joe Schmidt.

“Everywhere I’ve been lucky enough to go, there’s always been a reason behind it and it will all help me in this role,” he said.

“When I was in north Wales for the Welsh Rugby Union with RGC, they wanted to get promoted to the Premiership for the first time which we did.

“Coming to Leeds, in the first place to start my coaching, and then coming back in 2020, to support the reset of a club…

“Namibia was developing a Tier Two nation to be more competitive at World Cups.

“Going to Cardiff Blues was all about change and creating a new rugby structure on a very limited budget. There were always reasons behind everything and it’s been an amazing journey.

“It’s not been easy at times but it’s given me a real breadth of experience from Championship to Premiership rugby, semi-pro to professional, club to international and given me a real broad appreciation of the game at all levels.

“And hopefully I’ve played a small part in rejuvenating the Tykes again along with a lot of other people.

“It’s been amazing.”