The 56-year-old, who won 46 caps for his country, had a glittering playing career before successfully transitioning into coaching. For the past 25 years he has coached Leeds Tykes, the Scarlets, Cardiff Blues, Wales U20, RGC, Worcester Warriors and Namibia.
He is currently director of rugby at Leeds Tykes, where he began his coaching career. He steered Namibia to consecutive World Cup finals in 2015 and 2019 having been installed by by World Rugby’s high-performance programme.
Davies will report to Mark Harrington, chief player welfare and rugby services officer, in a restructured rugby and player welfare department which will be responsible for community and elite rugby.
Within that department the Welshman will be charged with shaping performance management processes for elite match officials, nurturing relationships with high performance national team coaches and advancing World Rugby’s relationship with players on performance matters.
He will also provide expertise and support to emerging nations in a bid to find a sustainable solution for them to help bridge the competition gap at the highest levels of the game. Another key aspect of his role will be to ensure welfare continues to be at the heart of the law review process, as World Rugby looks to build on strong progress made in line with its six-point welfare advancement plan launched last year.
“I’m delighted and humbled to be joining the World Rugby team and am looking forward to getting started,” said Davies.
“I’m passionate about the sport, its people and global potential. I believe I can bring my experiences of playing and coaching in more than 20 nations over the past 35 years to support further growth and development both off and on the field, in particular in the important areas of welfare, sustainable high-performance programmes and laws evolution.”
Davies’ appointment comes with many major events on the horizon – Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 in Cape Town and Rugby World Cup 2021, playing in 2022, in New Zealand rapidly approaching. The men’s World Cup takes place in France next year.
World Rugby also continues to work in partnership with unions, players and competitions to deliver a harmonious and impactful men’s international calendar, reimagination of the sevens landscape and a new approach to the commercial and operational delivery of future men’s and women’s Rugby World Cup hosting.
“We’re delighted to be appointing a person of Phil’s experience, calibre and passion to this strategically-important position at such an exciting time for the sport,” said World Rugby chief executive, Alan Gilpin.
“Phil’s profound knowledge and passion for the high performance and technical aspects of the game, coupled with the huge respect that he carries, will help us build on solid foundations forged by Joe Schmidt to increase our connection and collaboration with important stakeholders – players, coaches, match officials and fans.”
