Shane Williams: James Davies proved he is the man for a big occasion

I’m sure I’m not the only person who has been gripped this week by the Olympic Sevens. Any doubts over whether rugby‘s place in the Games was justified were swept aside by a thrilling tournament.
For me, it has been the most entertaining part of the Rio Olympics so far.
First we had the women pulling out all the stops to produce some brilliant rugby. I was gutted for Great Britain to miss out on a medal but the men’s team produced several fantastic performances to gain silver.
It was a wonderful performance from a side thrown together before the Olympics and with several players who had not played Sevens for a long time.
Any sports fan would have enjoyed the sheer drama of their quarter-final sudden-death extra-time win over Argentina.
It was a shame they were blown away in the final but if I’m honest, I couldn’t think of more fitting winners of the first rugby Sevens gold medal than Fiji.
The fact they had never won an Olympic medal before just made it all the more special.
They have been the bastions of Sevens rugby for years and if it wasn’t for their thrilling style of playing the game, it may not have even got into the Olympics at all.
It will be fascinating to see what happens next for James Davies. He was outstanding and thoroughly deserved being named in the Dream Team.
He has been fantastic for the Scarlets over the past couple of seasons and has been so unlucky not to get even a sniff of the Wales squad.
He has two world-class opensides ahead of him in Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric, so I fear he may continue to miss out, but what a way to send a message to Warren Gatland that he has worked on his game, developed his skills, speed and awareness by winning an Olympic silver medal.