Mark Davies is to end one of the longest careers in Test rugby – 30 years unbroken service with Wales treating casualties of four Grand Slams, seven World Cups and two Lions tours.
The man known to generations of players as “carcass’ is retiring with effect from next week after 350 international matches under 11 national coaches.
“I glanced in the mirror once too often and saw my sell-by date,” he tells TRP. “In cricketing parlance it feels a bit like walking off the field at Lord’s after making a triple century. I consider myself very lucky.
“The decision to retire is mine. I realise I’ve had a longer run that I could have wished for but the job is much more active than it used to be and there comes a time when you have to put your hand up.
“I’ve accumulated a number of ailments over the years which has required a new knee, hip and shoulder. They don’t replace the joints in your feet the way they do knees and hips. I’ve had a number of fusions in both feet, so long gone are the days when I had four good wheels on my wagon. They are all boney problems which is a bit ironic in view of my nickname.
“Somebody called me ‘carcass’ way back in primary school in Maesteg because some bright spark thought it summed up my anatomical state. I was skin and bone at the time and it’s stuck ever since.
“The boney issue now means I can’t get about as quickly as I used to. It’ll be a wrench when the season starts and Wales play their next match. The boys showed huge courage in those epic battles last month on three successive weeks, no mean feat against the Springboks.
“I have the kind of precious memories which no amount of money can buy, like the 1999 win over England at Wembley and the Grand Slam campaign of 2005, the first achieved by Wales for nearly 30 years.
“We’ve had our share of near misses. For me the biggest was when we went to Paris last year needing a win for another Slam. I don’t think any team in Welsh history could have played as well as the boys did that night only to have it stolen at the death.”
A former Swansea captain capped three times by Wales during the early Eighties, Davies, 64, leaves at a time when 185 former players suing World Rugby, the RFU and the WRU over brain damage which they claim was caused by repeated concussion.
“You cannot compare how the game was when I started in 1992 with how it is today because there is no comparison,” Davies says. “Head blows have become such a major issue that your action as a physio and doctor are scrutinised by millions.”
Davies urges World Rugby to take at least two steps aimed at reducing head injuries – outlawing the double tackle and restricting the use of substitutes for injuries as opposed to tactical reasons.
“From a player-welfare perspective, you have to be seen to be doing something to decrease the potential for head injuries,” says Davies. “I’d do away with the double tackle where the first player in tends to go low and the second one goes high.
“Only allowing subs for injured players leaves room for abuse so it would have to be rigorously policed. I’d also like World Rugby to give serious consideration to reintroducing rucking as we used to know it.”
