Benjamin "Ben" Davies was a Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 international rugby

Rugby football

Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...

 halfback who played rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 for Llanelli

Llanelli RFC

Llanelli Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club founded in 1875 and its senior team is one of the leading club sides in Wales. The club began the 2008-09 season at their historic home ground of Stradey Park in Llanelli, but moved in November 2008 to the new Parc y Scarlets in adjacent...

 and was capped twice for Wales

Wales national rugby union team

The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...

. Davies captained Llanelli for the 1894-95 season and was club secretary between 1898 and 1899. He later became the coach of Llandovery College and also wrote sports articles for the Daily Mail

Daily Mail

The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...

.

Rugby career

Davies played club rugby for first class Welsh team, Llanelli, and it was while representing the 'Scarlets' that he was first selected to play for Wales. Wales had used the Newport half-back pairing of Percy Phillips

Percy Phillips (rugby player)

Henry Percy Phillips OBE was a Welsh rugby union international fly-half who played club rugby for Newport. He won six caps for Wales and played in all three games of the 1893 Home Nations Championship which saw Wales lift the Triple Crown for the first time in the country's history.Outside rugby,...

 and Fred Parfitt

Fred Parfitt

Frederick 'Fred' Charles Parfitt was a Welsh international rugby union scrum-half who played club rugby for Newport, regional rugby for Somerset and was capped nine times for Wales...

, but after the retirement of Phillips, the selectors began experimenting with new pairings. The opening game of the 1895 Home Nations Championship

1895 Home Nations Championship

The 1895 Home Nations Championship was the thirteenth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 5 January and 16 March...

 against England saw the introduction of two new caps into the half-back positions, Davies and Cardiff's

Cardiff RFC

Cardiff Rugby Football Club is a rugby union football club based in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The club was founded in 1876 and played their first few matches at Sophia Gardens, but soon relocated to Cardiff Arms Park where they have been based ever since...

 Selwyn Biggs

Selwyn Biggs

Selwyn Hanam Biggs was a Welsh international rugby union fly-half who played club rugby for Cardiff and county rugby for Glamorgan. Both Biggs and his brother Norman played international rugby for Wales, though they never played in the same match for Wales together. Biggs was described at the time...

. Despite experienced and talented backs, including Billy Bancroft

Billy Bancroft

Billy Bancroft was a Welsh international fullback who played club rugby for Swansea and a county cricketer for Glamorgan, becoming their first professional player in 1895....

, Tom Pearson

Tom Pearson (rugby player)

Thomas William Rory Pearson was a Welsh international wing who played club rugby for Cardiff and Newport and county rugby with Middlesex. He won 13 caps for Wales and captained the team on one occasion, against England. Pearson was an all-round sportsman, representing Wales not only in rugby, but...

 and captain Arthur Gould, the weak forward play from Wales left the backs hamstrung, and the team lost 6-14. The next game of the Championship saw the selectors retain Biggs, but Davies was replaced by a returning Fred Parfitt.

Despite playing no further part in the 1895 tournament, Davies was given another international cap the next year, again in the opening game of the tournament against England. This time Davies' half-back partner was Llanelli team mate David Morgan

David Morgan (rugby player)

David "Dai" Morgan was a Welsh international rugby union fly-half who played club rugby for Llanelli and was capped twice for Wales.-Rugby career:...

. The Welsh selectors often favoured less able half-back pairing which came from the same club team, giving a level of continuity to the back play. Morgan was first capped in the last game of the 1895 tournament, a home win over Ireland

Ireland national rugby union team

The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...

. Morgan was retained, while his partner Ralph Sweet-Escott

Ralph Sweet-Escott

Ralph Bond Sweet-Escott was an English-born international rugby union half back who played club rugby for Cardiff and was capped three times for Wales. Sweet-Escott also played cricket for Glamorgan representing the county in the Minor Counties Cricket Championship...

 was dropped to allow Davies another chance. Played away at Rectory Field

Rectory Field

Rectory Field is a playing field in Blackheath, London. It was developed in the 1880s by Blackheath Cricket, Football and Lawn Tennis Company and became the home of Kent County Cricket Club and rugby union team Blackheath F.C....

 in Blackheath

Blackheath, London

Blackheath is a district of South London, England. It is named from the large open public grassland which separates it from Greenwich to the north and Lewisham to the west...

, Wales were completely outclassed, losing 25-0. Neither Morgan or Davies were ever selected for Wales again.