Evan "Ianto" Davies was a Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 international rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 full back who played club rugby for Llanelli

Llanelli RFC

Llanelli Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club founded in 1875 and its senior team is one of the leading club sides in Wales. The club began the 2008-09 season at their historic home ground of Stradey Park in Llanelli, but moved in November 2008 to the new Parc y Scarlets in adjacent...

 and Maesteg

Maesteg RFC

Maesteg Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team from the town of Maesteg, South Wales. The club presently play in the Welsh Rugby Union Division One West and is a feeder club for the Ospreys.-Club history:...

. He won a single cap for Wales

Wales national rugby union team

The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...

 and also played county rugby for Glamorgan

Glamorgan County RFC

Glamorgan County RFC is a Welsh rugby union club that manages an invitational team, known as Glamorgan that originally played rugby at county level...

Rugby career

Born in Maesteg

Maesteg

Maesteg is a town and community in Bridgend County Borough, Wales. Maesteg lies at the northernmost end of the Llynfi Valley, close to the border with Neath Port Talbot. In 2001, Maesteg had a population of 17,859, but it is now at an estimate of 20,000....

, Wales, Davies first played rugby as a school boy for Plasnewydd School. He progressed to local team Maesteg Rovers, before joining Maesteg RFC. Davies' rugby career was put on hold with the outbreak of World War I, where he served in the Royal Field Artillery and Welch Regiment. On his return to Britain after the end of hostilities, he rejoined Maesteg.

The first game played by the Wales national team after the war was against the touring New Zealand Army

New Zealand Army rugby team of 1919

The New Zealand Army rugby team of 1919 was a rugby union team which represented New Zealand after the end of the First World War. Although spoken of as a single team, there were several New Zealand Services teams playing in Britain at the conclusion of the War...

. With so many of the pre-war team either too old or now no longer fit to play, the Wales team was made up of newly capped players, many of who were ex-services. Davies was given his first and only cap in this game, played at the Cardiff Arms Park

Cardiff Arms Park

Cardiff Arms Park , also known as The Arms Park, is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green, and is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. The Arms Park was host to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1958, and hosted four games in the 1991 Rugby World...

 on 21 April 1919. Although Wales lost 3-6, Davies' cap gave him the honour of being the first player to come from the Maesteg club to represent his country.

For the 1920/21 season, Davies was made captain of Maesteg. He later played for both Llanelli and London Welsh and also for Glamorgan County.