Four sides will get promoted from the SSE Swalec Championship into the Premiership at the end of the season and the north Walians are currently lying in fourth place. But having lost so many players from last season’s squad, Davies has been keen to add experience to his squad.
Lithuania captain ?ygimantas Rad?ius was the first to bolster the squad and last week the Oxford University triple Blue Ian Williams was added. Williams has played for Welsh Students and Swansea in the past and has been on three winning sides with the Dark Blues at Twickenham.
Radzius has headed to Colwyn Bay as part of the International Exchange Programme that has been in place for a number of years and follows in the footsteps of Canadian, South African and New Zealand players who have played in north Wales.
“We need a bit more experience in the side to help the many talented youngsters we’ve got and I’ve been impressed with Ziggy’s attitude and application in training so far. He’s come off the bench for us and is really shaping up,” said Davies, who coached Namibia at the World Cup.
“We’re still very much in the hunt for promotion this season and that is the goal. There is a great set-up at Eirias Parc and a huge appetite for top class rugby in the region.
“That’s why the addition of players like Ziggy and Ian can only help us as we push for promotion. It is a tough league and our teenagers need a few elder statesmen around them.
“When we played Merthyr we had two teenagers in the front row and a 20 and 21 year old in the second row. It has been a sharp learning curve for many of our players this season and we need to be in a position where we can build a team that can play together over a number of seasons.
“We lost 10 players to various academies from last season and while it is great to see the likes of Ollie Cacknell, Tom Williams and Morgan Williams doing well at the Ospreys, Joe Jones at the Blues and Llywarch ap Myrddin at the Dragons, we need some stability and some experience.”
There are four RGC players in the current Wales Under 20 training squad and they have produced record numbers of players at Under 16, Under 18 and Under 20 levels over the past three seasons. The untapped resource that is north Wales, where there are 32 clubs, a million people and a thriving junior game, has already created a number of stars for the Welsh team.
George North is the shining light, but James King isn’t far behind. Rob McCusker graduated into the Welsh side along with Eifion Roberts, while Jack Roberts and Rhys Williams e currently at Leicester Tigers.
The problem for RGC is that while four teams will get promoted at the end of the season, there are five sides in contention for those places – Merthyr, Pontypool, Swansea, Bargoed and themselves. Whoever misses out will then have to wait three years at least before getting the chance to break into the top flight because the new 16 team Premiership will be ring-fenced.
“It is vitally important given the investment that has gone into developing a real region in north Wales by the WRU that we get promoted this season. If we don’t make it the potential growth of the region will be stunted,” added Davies.
“We know exactly what we’ve got to do and I believe we have the talent here to get enough points to finish in the top four. We have two big games coming up against Pontypool, and another against Swansea, and they look like being the ones that will be critical for us.”
