He played rugby as a lock in his youth for Torquay Athletic RFC and represented the county of Devon before being selected for his first England cap[1] in 1963.
He remained in rugby all the rest of his life, continuing to coach youth and senior teams in his home town of Sherborne.
Davis was born in Lichfield and went to Torquay Boys' Grammar School before training as a teacher at St Luke's College, Exeter, where he was studying when he was first selected for the England team in 1963.
[2] His arrival on the international scene as a player was significant enough that he was profiled in the December 1963 issue of Rugby World magazine.
With the formation of Sherborne RFC in the early 1980s he was soon enlisted to help raise the standard of play at this burgeoning club and he coached a variety of sides within the Senior and Junior section on-and-off over a period of thirty years.