Clyde Davids

Davids got his first provincial call-up in 2011, when he was selected to represent Western Province at the Craven Week, the premier high school rugby union competition in South Africa. He made two appearances at the tournament held in Kimberley.

Davids made the move to Pretoria to join the Blue Bulls academy for 2012. He made seven appearances for Blue Bulls U19 in the 2012 Under-19 Provincial Championship. Six of those appearances came during the round-robin stage of the competition as the Blue Bulls finished in second position on the log to qualify for the semi-finals. Davids played off the bench in the Blue Bulls' 46–35 victory over Sharks U21 in the semi-final,[2] but was an unused replacement in their 18–22 defeat to Western Province U19 in the final a week later.[3]

In 2013, Davids was promoted to the Blue Bulls U21 squad and he appeared in eleven of their fourteen matches in the 2013 Under-21 Provincial Championship, starting ten of those. He made eight starts and one appearance off the bench during the regular season to help the Blue Bulls finish in second spot on the log, winning eight of their twelve matches. Davids started their 36–13 victory over the Sharks U21 in the semi-final,[4] as well as in the final, where he ended on the losing side as Western Province U21 ran out 30–23 winners.[5]

Davids was included in the Blue Bulls squad for the 2015 Vodacom Cup competition and made his first class debut in their 24–26 defeat to Griquas in their opening match in the competition.[6] He also started in another two-point defeat against the Pumas,[7] and he scored his first senior try in his third start, which proved crucial as the Blue Bulls secured a 22–20 win over Gauteng rivals the Golden Lions.[8] He eventually started all nine of their matches in the competition – scoring one more try in their 116–0 victory over the Limpopo Blue Bulls[9] – as the Blue Bulls progressed to the semi-finals of the competition where they lost 15–16 to the Golden Lions.[10]

Davids reverted to the Blue Bulls U21 side for the 2014 Under-21 Provincial Championship and scored a try in their match against Golden Lions U21[11] as his side secured second spot on the log. He started in their semi-final match, a 23–19 victory over the Golden Lions,[12] but missed out on the final, which saw the Blue Bulls U21 win the competition after beating Western Province 20–10 in Cape Town.[13]

In 2015, Davids was included in Pretoria-based university side UP Tuks' squad for the 2015 Varsity Cup. He appeared in all eight of their matches in the competition and scored four tries (one less than UP Tuks' joint top scorers Dan Kriel and Wiaan Liebenberg), scoring in matches against NWU Pukke,[14] CUT Ixias[15] and NMMU Madibaz[16] during the regular season, as well as in their semi-final, as UP Tuks suffered a 28–29 defeat to NWU Pukke to be knocked out of the competition.[17] At the conclusion of the Varsity Cup competition, he once again linked up with the Blue Bulls' Vodacom Cup squad and he made five appearances in this competition as they reached the semi-finals before being eliminated by Western Province.[18]

Davids was included in the Blue Bulls' Currie Cup for the first time in 2015 and made his Currie Cup debut in their Round Nine match against the Eastern Province Kings, coming on as a late replacement in a 48–27 victory.[19]