It’s a couple of years since an Australian rugby player watching Wales at the U20 World Championships in Argentina turned to his mates and said: “What’s Leigh Halfpenny doing out there?”
He was actually looking at Ioan Davies.
Told about the comment later, the Welsh No. 15 that day laughed: “It’s not the first time I’ve heard the comparison.
“It must be the headguard.
“Those sort of comments are nice to read and hear but you have to keep your feet on the ground. You analyse your own game and know exactly how you played after every game.”
Or could it have been the running style that drew the comparison, with Davies not wildly dissimilar to Halfpenny in that respect?
Or maybe it was the youngster’s bravery.
He made a number of gutsy tackles during that game against Fiji, after all, just as he had stood his ground against England U18s a year earlier when wave after wave of white-shirted attackers poured through. Davies tackled every one of them.
Whatever, he’s now playing in the English Championship.
Quietly, news of his move to Jersey Reds on loan from the Dragons was released last week. Within a couple of days he was featuring off the bench against London Scottish, delivering a scoring pass in the 18 minutes he had on the field.
It will be intriguing to see in which direction his career heads next.
The Dragons have allowed him to head out of Rodney Parade at a time when they are playing a fly-half, Josh Lewis, at full-back with regular No. 15 Jordan Williams out injured.
There again, the east Walians might genuinely feel the opportunity to play regular rugby will benefit a player who hasn’t long celebrated his 22nd birthday.
Some loan moves, after all, can be the making of players. If Davies wants confirmation of that, he need only pick up the phone and ring either Kieran Hardy or Callum Sheedy, both of whom spent highly successful spells with Jersey in their younger days.
The challenge for the Ysgol Gyfun Glantaf product is to take full advantage of the game-time that’s likely to come his way.
It certainly seems a long time since he stood tall in adversity for Wales U18s when they crashed 42-14 to their English counterparts at Sardis Road. The players in white were bigger, heavier and more dynamic than their Welsh opponents and literally hurdling over home players into contact, but it’s hard to recall Davies missing a single hit.
One exemplary piece of defensive work that Halfpenny himself would have signed off saw him halt galloping England lock Rouban Birch dead in his tracks with a try-saving intervention that demonstrated text-book technique.
Davies also scored a memorable try, fielding a sliced kick before beating four defenders on a 45-metre surge to the line.
Fifteen months later he was one of Wales’ top performers at the U20 World Championships.
Later that year Wayne Pivac invited him to train with the Wales senior squad.
But Davies didn’t break through at Cardiff, while it’s also taking time for it to happen for him at the Dragons.
Rewind seven months and Dean Ryan was praising him after his effort in the away defeat at Glasgow Warriors, calling Davies’ performance that night “outstanding”.
But there were also words that suggested scope for improvement. “He has good feet and is powerful but he just has to make decisions quicker, although he hasn't played a huge amount of rugby [because of the pandemic].
"In age-grade he probably has five seconds; now he has 0.5 seconds. We'll keep talking to him to make those decisions quicker and trust his instincts rather than trying to work out if it's the right move.
"He did that really well against Glasgow, which was a very different game to under-18s and under-20s rugby. If you hesitate someone is on you, so that's a great experience."
The spell in Jersey could kick-start Davies’ time in the senior game but it’s up to him to make the most of it.
It’s a hugely significant time for him, then, and he would do well to remember that no rugby career is a straight line, especially early on.
Talent, though, usually comes through.
Let’s wish him well.
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