Quote: fez1 "Yes that was pretty special. I remember screaming from the 40m line as he broke the line and took on Mullins.
Davies probably had the highest rugby intelligence of any player I've ever seen.
In league Briers and Edwards come close. From Oz I'd choose Johns and Lockyer.
In union, Gareth Edwards and van der Westhuizen would also be close.
I remember when we stuffed Stains 20-0 at Wilderspool mid week and Davies bombed Antony Sullivan time and time again from which I think we scored 2 or 3 tries - similar to to Monas targetting Feka a few years ago.
Happy times.'"
Rugby intelligence is an interesting concept. I think we had 5 players during my time who seemed like they were ahead of most of the rest of the game in terms of knowing where to be, what plays to execute, at what time, to maximise the team's advantage: Davies and Briers like you say, the other three were Allan Langer, Michael Monaghan and Brett Hodgson.
I remember Davies bombing a young Anthony Sullivan. A few years later Briers gave him a terrible time at Wilderspool. Maybe a flakiness under the high ball was the only thing that held Sullivan being back from being one of the greats because he was a terrific runner.
Another player who got bombed into oblivion by Davies was Graham Steadman. An incredible thing about Davies was that even if he hadn't been a quick runner and had just been a stand-off with a game based around kicking (remember the Aussie Mitch Healey who played for Cronulla and Cas?), he would still have been a very effective weapon.