Former Cardigan Secondary School and Preseli sixth form student Nia Davies was a member of the Wales Squad that took part in the recent Women’s Armistice Day match at the Arms Park.
Nia who started her rugby career at Cardigan RFC juniors at the tender age of five and who continued through to the U13’s before playing for Whitland RFC has gained thirteen caps to date and is hoping to add to these when the home nations comes around in a few months.
Wales were successful in this one off international and ran out winners by 43-5 against the UK Armed forces and to date Nia has enjoyed a successful career in the red of Wales despite a string of niggly injuries that have set her back.
After coming on to the international scene the hard tackling flanker suffered some serious shoulder injuries and was forced to take time out of rugby but she maintained her fitness levels by running for the Carmarthen Harriers, and travelled to Belgium in 2006 to compete in the European Championships.
In 2012, Nia travelled to Ireland with the Wales Squad but she was on the bench and never got to play but the pain of having to sit and watch proved to be a sobering experience for her as she explains:” It became abundantly clear to me that there was a very high level of competitiveness within the squad and I needed to match this to succeed.
“This was very much a turning point for me and made me more hungry to achieve even greater things and I was desperate to be part of that squad long term.”
It all paid off for her in February 2013, when the science teacher based at Queen Elizabeth School, Carmarthen, stepped out in her treasured red shirt for her first cap against Ireland in Aberafan.
This she admits was an extremely emotional moment for her and almost to the point of relief.
During the National Anthem, many thoughts were swirling around in her head – “sefyll yma, cris arno, canu’r anthem” ( standing here,shirt on, singing the anthem) and the feeling that she had made it!
Nia, a fluent Welsh speaker from Llangoedmore near Cardigan says she is not only passionate for her rugby, but equally so her for her country and keeping its special language alive.
She has gained 13 caps for her country so far with three of these gained in the Rugby World Cup in France in 2014.
Nia also trains for the Wales sevens team and in 2014 was their captain.
After leaving school she studied at UWIC for 3 years followed by a 4th year PGCE teachers training qualification at Swansea University.
Whilst in 6th form, Nia played for the Ladies Scarlets team where she proudly won the U18’s Player of the Year whilst during her time at UWIC, Nia trained and played for the BUCS League – the British Universities and Colleges Sport.
She is currently training hard with the Scarlets and also the Wales 7’s and full Welsh squad and is hoping to be chosen for both squads under the coaching of Roland Philips.
If successful with the sevens she will travel with a squad of 12 to Dubai at the beginning of December.
Sportsline snapper Julie John managed to side track Nia this week away from her busy schedule for a quick chat and we wish her well with her rugby career and we will be keeping track of her progress.
One of her team mates in the squad is Catrin Edwards who came through the junior system with Crymych RFC and we will be catching up with her very soon.
