phils journey
Phil was born in the village of Seven Sisters which is situated in the Neath Valley of South Wales.
His Father & Mother were local business owners and along with his brother and sister enjoyed growing up in a close-knit community.
His love of rugby began with the influence of his grandfather “Dad Jonny”, along with his school sports teachers and Morris Davies, who was a local rugby coaching legend at the time.
Even though born and bred in the Neath Valleys, his love of rugby took him down the M4 to Stradey Park where he watched the great Llanelli team of the 70’s, which included legends of the Welsh game, such as, Phil Bennett, Ray Gravell and Derek Quinnell.
During this time, his passion for rugby and Llanelli RFC grew even further, leading to his debut for the club in 1981.
At Llanelli RFC, he made a total of 389 appearances, which included 7 cup final appearances, along with winning League Championships and appearing against a number of Southern Hemisphere opposition which included the likes of New Zealand and Australia. During his With Llanelli RFC, he captained the side for 6 seasons and discovered a further passion, which was Leadership.
Another profound experience in Phil’s background was when he joined the South Wales Constabulary as a Police Officer this coincided with a difficult period In Welsh Economic History with the demise of the coal mining industry. It was during this time that further Leadership lessons were learnt through some outstanding influences in the Police Service, none more so than the Chief Constable at the time, Mr David East.
Having then re-joined Llanelli RFC after leaving the Police Force continuing his rugby career, where he made his debut for Wales in 1985, where over the course of a 10-year international career, played at 2 world cups and won the 5 nations championship in 1994. At the time of his retirement in 1996, he was Wales’ most capped forward with 46 appearances.
After an incredibly successful playing career, he moved into coaching and along with his family, moved up to West Yorkshire and became Director of Rugby of Leeds Tykes.
Over a 10-year the Tykes grew from a National Division 4 side into a fully professional domestic and European Team, winning promotions and cup finals along the way, with the highlight being the Powergen Cup Final over Bath at Twickenham in 2005.
In 2006 Phil and his family made the move back to Wales to become Director of Rugby at the Llanelli Scarlets. Whilst also in Wales, he went on to coach Wales U20’s, at 6 nations and Junior World Championship Level.
There after returning to coach senior professional coaching with Cardiff Blues and Worcester Warriors where he assisted Richard Hill in achieving promotion.
In late 2014 a decision was made to expand his leadership & coaching experience into the Southern Hemisphere where he was appointed a technical advisor for the Namibian National Team. During this period his role changed to become Director of Rugby/ Head Coach of the Country where he led them to the 2015 & 2019 senior Rugby World Cups in England & Japan respectively.
In 2014 Phil founded “Phil Davies Rugby & Associates” which was focused on using 35 years of experience to help support and develop the next generation of leaders in sport and business. Over the last 12 months the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed for in depth analysis and reflection of our Journey. This has led to the re-branding of the company to what you see today “Phil Davies Global Leadership”. The experiences and lessons learnt are all encapsulated in The Leaders Locker which is a series authentically developed leadership frameworks which cover Leading Self and Leading Others