Show caption The irrepressible James Davies has brought a smile to everyone’s face during the Scarlets’ run to the European Cup semi-finals. Photograph: Dimitris Legakis/Guardian Scarlets Scarlets’ James Davies: ‘I’d rather have fun than be boring and have more Welsh caps’ The Welsh club hope their openside flanker’s rugby skills will be as sharp as his comic timing when they meet Leinster in Saturday’s European Champions Cup semi-final Robert Kitson Fri 20 Apr 2018 13.35 BST Share on Facebook

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Not since Llanelli’s fabled win over the All Blacks in 1972 has west Wales felt so much love for its local rugby heroes. At last there is modern-day competition for sepia-tinted legends such as Ray Gravell and Phil Bennett, particularly if the Scarlets become the first Welsh team or region to win Europe’s ultimate club title. Even making the final at Leinster’s expense would out-rank all other Welsh efforts in the past 21 years.

Whatever happens, last season’s Pro12 champions are already admired for their infectiously positive offloading style and, particularly in one individual’s case, for bringing a smile to everyone’s face. To say James ‘Cubby Boi’ Davies is a popular figure is an understatement: if anyone embodies the Scarlets’ joie de vivre it is the 27-year-old younger brother of the Lions centre, Jon “Fox” Davies.

Even at breakfast time on a wet midweek morning, the irrepressible Cubby (his parents ran the Fox & Hounds pub in Bancyfelin, hence the siblings’ nicknames) is magnificent value. How many other top sportsmen would happily recall the drunken night in Las Vegas when his knuckles were tattooed for a bet, discuss his dog eating his lucky underpants or admit to being only the fourth-best rugby player from his home village near Carmarthen? If the openside flanker’s breakdown work in Dublin is as sharp as his comic timing, Leinster will be right up against it.

Cubby’s guiding mantra – “If you’re going to be a bear be a Grizzly” – usually means he responds well to big occasions. He was brilliant for Great Britain’s medal-winning sevens team in the Rio Olympics and has never been one for holding back. “For years I’ve thought like that. What’s the point of being someone who sits in a corner and no-one knows who they are? It works for some people but I guess I just chose differently. When the big games are happening and the bright lights are on, that’s when I like to shine. Growing up in the pub my hero was Prince Naseem Hamed. I loved how he used to put on a show for everybody. When I was seven or eight I asked for a pair of his spangly shorts for Christmas but Santa never came up with the goods.”

Time spent around Davies junior is rarely dull. According to his brother, he “thinks he’s a rock star now” but not everyone always sees the funny side. His first cap against Italy last month should probably have happened some years earlier while his tattooed fists caused disquiet at home: “Mum came round pretty quickly but Dad took a bit longer. I remember showing him for the first time and all he said was: ‘There we are then.’ He didn’t speak to me for seven days. I think he was thinking about what job I could do after rugby. It’ll probably have to be something involving gloves – maybe a dentist?” At least it has raised his profile. “I call myself a marketing genius now. Subconsciously I think I always knew what I was doing.” Really? “Very subconsciously.”

All of which prompts a serious question: would he have won more caps had he been a duller bloke? Breaking off from discussing his pet collie Desmond’s appetite for underpants – “He’s just had my training socks as well” – he is fairly sure he knows the answer.

“Yeah, potentially. I don’t know if that’s been the case but, if it is, I’m quite happy with the route I’ve taken. At the end of the day I’d rather have fun and eventually achieve my goal rather than be more boring and have a lot more caps.”

The deceptively-strong Cubby is far more committed than he lets on. As with the young Neil Back, there has been scepticism from those who expect top-class opensides to be a certain size and shape. “I’ve been doubted throughout my career. Since I was 16 people have said: ‘He’s not big enough.’ My brother’s a great player but, as a big lad back then, it would only take one game to convince someone. It would take me 20 games.” Escaping the shadows of Sam Warburton, Justin Tipuric and Josh Navidi to win his first cap, therefore, was a deeply satisfying moment. “It felt like I’d earned it. I enjoy myself but I work hard as well. To play the way I do you have to be fit. I work my butt off in the off-season.”

James Davies (second left) in action for the Scarlets in a Pro14 game against the Glasgow Warriors on 7 April.

Photograph: Alex Davidson/INPHO/Rex/Shutterstock

It also means his currently-injured brother, the great Delme Thomas and another locally-reared Lion, Mike Phillips, now have lively company in the village hall of fame. Cubby has a theory about the origins of this impressive production line –“Delme’s of an age when he might have been going round knocking on doors at night” – but the Fox & Hounds also offered a perfect athletic breeding ground. “Luckily the pub had a nice big park area which was our back garden. There were no iPhones or iPads so me and my brother would just be out playing football and rugby. That’s where my skill levels come from.” Who usually won? “Silly question. I used to run rings around him. Whenever anyone scored a screamer in football they had to lie on their back like Paul Gascoigne and be squirted with water bottles. Good times.”

The post-match celebrations will be equally joyous if Scarlets repeat last season’s Pro 12 semi-final win over Leinster, when the versatile Davies was redeployed on the wing after Steff Evans was red-carded. He filled the same role – “I should have two contracts, shouldn’t I?” – against La Rochelle last month and will be among this weekend’s key figures alongside Tadhg Beirne, Ken Owens, Leigh Halfpenny et al. “Because a lot of the core players are from this part of the world you don’t get big egos or city slickers. I think that’s why everyone gets on so well. There are no cliques and we play for each other.”