Jonathan Davies was victim to a gang attack whilst playing in France (Image: Getty)
Welsh icon nearly had to pack his bags and return home from Clermont Auvergne after a harrowing nightclub ordeal. Davies and his new team-mates were victims of a knife-gang attack 12 years ago.
Shortly after the celebrated centre landed in France in late 2013, he was taken out by his new squad for a night in Millau. Things took a terrifying turn when a local gang, armed with ‘machetes and shovels,’ .
Davies’ ex-team-mate, – a revered French figure in Clermont – recounted the incident alongside his old peer. The team’s captain, Aurelien Rougerie, initially intervened upon witnessing a man striking a woman at the club they were visiting, and they were later set upon by these same individuals.
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“As we were walking up, we just see guys coming up with scooters, with things in their hands,” said Kayser on a 2023 episode of . “And it’s p***ing down. We don’t really know what’s happening. And it’s those boys, they came back.
“But they had machetes, shovels – and you know in front of boulangeries, you have like an advertisement thing? Well, they’d picked them up as shields. Then it was three minutes, two and a half minutes of just craziness. We beat the s*** out of them then. But they’re cutting, and that’s why we’ve got cuts everywhere [motions to a large scarp on his bicep].
“Julien Pierre rocked up to come and save us, was about to swing on the first guy and got hit with a machete on his hip – 44 stitches he had. He was open from his belly button all the way to his back. This close [pinches fingers] to snapping his sciatic nerve. So that means no more leg power.”
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Davies – who earned 96 caps for Wales and appeared on two British and Irish Lions tours – interjected at this point and confirmed Pierre indeed bore a “hell of a scar” after the bloody fray, though he managed to see the humour in the chaotic welcome to French rugby.
Yet, the star – nicknamed ‘Fox’ – revealed his mother’s reaction was anything but amusing: “Yeah, welcome to the club! My mother was like, ‘No, you’re coming home. You’re not staying in France!'”
Justice came for the attackers as six individuals involved in assaulting the Clermont players received prison sentences for their crimes. The perpetrators were convicted of “violence with arms,” and faced one to four years behind bars.
Despite the harrowing start, Davies, aged 36, remained in France, securing two impressive seasons with Clermont before his return to Scarlets in late 2015. He played in the finals of both the European Rugby Champions League and the Top 14, albeit without clinching the titles.