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Aled Davies eligible for Wales again following Saracens exit

Wales' scrum-half Aled Davies takes part in a training session at the International Stadium Yokohama in Yokohama on October 25, 2019, ahead of the Japan 2019 Rugby World Cup semi-final match against South Africa. (Photo by Odd Andersen / AFP) (Photo by ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images)

Wales scrumhalf Aled Davies has left Saracens to join Cardiff on a long-term deal.

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The 31-year-old spent four seasons at the StoneX Stadium, helping the three-time European champions bounce back to the Premiership from the Championship in his first campaign.

This will be the third region the 20-cap Wales international will represent, having played for the Scarlets and the Ospreys prior to joining Saracens.

The move will render Davies eligible to represent Wales again, as he had fallen under the 25-cap threshold to play outside of Wales while at Saracens.

Davies will join fellow Wales international Callum Sheedy in making the move over the Severn to the Welsh capital this summer, who has signed from Bristol Bears.

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“I want to thank all the coaching and back-room staff for the unwavering support for myself and my family over the last four years, the club will always hold a special place in our hearts,” Davies said after his move was announced.

“I am really grateful for my time at the club, the memories created on and off the field have been incredible. I have made friends for life.”

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Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall added: “Aled is a fantastic person who we will miss on and off the pitch. He has been a key part of our squad and has made an enormous contribution to Saracens which we will always appreciate.

“We are excited for him and his family to embark on a new chapter, and wish them all the best in the future.”

Davies’ new head coach Matt Sherratt said: “Aled is a top quality person and player, who will really add to this team. With Tomos departing, we needed to add some experience at scrum-half and Aled has been there and done it.

“He has a huge amount of top level experience, has represented Wales on 20 occasions and arrives from one of the best teams in Europe, with all that insight and experience.

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“As a player, he is technically very good, he controls the game really well, is athletic and hard-working.

“He is the perfect addition to our squad and will not only compete with, but help the development of the likes of Ellis Bevan.”

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Tom 1 hour ago
England player ratings vs South Africa | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

That 2019 performance was literally the peak in attacking rugby under Eddie. If you thought that was underwhelming, the rest of it was garbage.


I totally get what you're saying and England don't need or have any God given right to the best coaches in the world... But I actually think the coaches we do have are quite poor and for the richest union in the world, that's not good enough. 


England are competitive for sure but with the talent pool up here and the funds available, we should be in the top 3. At the very least we should be winning six nations titles on a semi-regular basis. If Ireland can, England definitely should.


England's attack coach (Richard Wigglesworth) is Borthwick's mate from his playing days at Saracens, who he brought to Leicester with him when he became coach. Wigglesworth was a 9 who had no running or passing game, but was the best box kicker in the business. He has no credentials to be an attack coach and I've seen nothing to prove otherwise. Aside from Marcus Smith’s individual brilliance, our collective attack has looked very uninspiring.

 

England's defence coach (Joe El-Abd) is Borthwick's housemate from uni, who has never been employed as a defence coach before. He's doing the job part time while he's still the head coach of a team in the second division of French rugby who have an awful defensive record. England's defence has gone from being brutally efficient under Felix Jones to as leaky as a colander almost overnight.


If Borthwick brings in a new attack and defence coach then I'll absolutely get behind him but his current coaches seem to be the product of nepotism. He's brought in people he's comfortable with because he lacks confidence as an international head coach and they aren't good enough for international rugby.


England are competitive because they do some things really well, mostly they front up physically, make a lot of big hits, have a solid kicking game, a good lineout, good maul, Marcus Smith and some solid forwards. A lot of what we do well I would ascribe to Borthwick personally. I don't think he's a bad coach, I think he lacks imagination and is overly risk averse. He needs coaches who will bring a point of difference.


I guess my point is, yes England are competitive, but we’re not aiming for competitive and I honestly don't believe this coaching setup has what it takes to make us any better than competitive.


On the plus side it looks like we have an amazing crop of young players coming through. Some of them who won the u20 world cup played for England A against Australia A on the weekend and looked incredible... Check out the highlights on youtube.

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