Gareth Davies urged to reverse 2024 international retirement for 2027 World Cup
Former Wales team-mate Scott Baldwin has urged Gareth Davies to reconsider his Test retirement for the 2027 World Cup after Davies helped Scarlets overturn a 21-7 deficit to beat Benetton in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday.
Davies won 77 Wales caps between 2014 and 2024 and retired from Test rugby in 2024; he has since appeared as a regular TV pundit. His 10-year international career included two British and Irish Lions tours, a Grand Slam and a Six Nations title. Davies was 36 when he inspired the Scarlets and will be 37 by the time of the 2027 World Cup. Wales are drawn in Pool F with Zimbabwe, Tonga and England in Australia.
Davies came on as a second-half replacement for Dane Blacker and played a key role in Scarlets' first win of the season, having been described as the leading all-time Welsh try-scorer in the URC. Baldwin praised the impact, saying, "Firstly, he did not look like a 36-year-old, he looked like someone who was out playing his first game - that's how much it meant to him," and added, "That was the desperation he showed and the moment when the Scarlets needed it."
Baldwin told BBC Radio Wales Sport that Davies could still be a decisive presence at a World Cup and suggested a return for the tournament rather than the autumn internationals or Six Nations. He said: "He could be just what you want in a quarter-final of a World Cup, in a Wales-England fixture in 12 months' time," and added, "He's not going to be overawed with the pressure of that environment. And outside of Tomos [Williams] really, have we got the depth there to come on in those huge moments?"
On selection depth at scrum-half, the report notes Tomos Williams is Wales' first choice, with Ospreys pair Keiran Hardy and Reuben Morgan-Williams also in contention. Baldwin said: "Tomos Williams is out and out number one [but] I challenge someone to show me a better scrum after that than Gareth Davies. "We're building for a World Cup next next year. I haven't given up hope on [Wales] getting out of the group and getting into the deep stages of the knockouts with the squad."
Baldwin compared the potential role for Davies to how South Africa used Schalk Brits in 2019 after retirement and recalled Davies' contribution to Wales' 2015 World Cup win over England. He said: "If you look look back to the World Cup I went to. We lost our first choice 9, 15, 10, 12 and had [scrum-half] Lloyd Williams playing on the wing. "We're a very resilient nation and sometimes we've got to be a little bit smarter on the players we've got. "We are missing depth in certain areas but if you can get Wales' best 23, fit and healthy and on the pitch, they'll always have a fighter's chance. That's all we really need and all we've probably ever had."
Scarlets director of rugby Nigel Davies described Gareth's contribution as "superb" and said: "Gareth has been struggling with having to sit in the wings a little bit because he's such a competitor, but he's getting used to actually contributing in different ways to what he's done in the past and he came on and made a big difference."
Baldwin urged Wales coach Steve Tandy to consider a discussion with Davies because of his World Cup experience, quoting an approach that "may be, look, 'come World Cup time, I know what you can do, I want you to be part of the squad'," said Tandy. Wales' confirmed place in Pool F — with Zimbabwe, Tonga and England in Australia — frames the selection question ahead of the 2027 tournament.
