Instead a half-back shortage plunged him into the deep end of a Paris derby against Racing Metro before he made his full debut against Jonny Wilkinson’s Toulon.

With first-choice No.9 Julien Dupuy still sidelined by a long-term suspension, Davies has been given several more opportunities in a team packed full of world-class internationals and at the weekend he pulled on a Red Rose shirt for the first time in the England Under-20s match against France.

And Davies admits he still has to pinch himself in his current surroundings having been once been deemed ‘too small’ to make it in the professional game.

He said: “My first start was opposite Jonny Wilkinson and Pierre Mignoni and I had to stop my jaw from dropping.

“I was so in awe of all these world-class players. I hit Jonny with a half tackle but my friends told me they would never forgive me if I injured him.

“I got my break when Julien went to play for France during the November internationals and suddenly they needed another scrum half.

“I was told I was going to be on the bench against Racing, which was a huge shock and the environment of a match at Top 14 level is completely different to what I am used to with Nottingham.

“From the moment I woke up I was completely focussed but the worst part was sitting on the bench where I was chewing my finger nails off.

“But after ten minutes the starting No.9 got injured so I was called into action straightaway which was quite good because I was still in the mindset I had from warming up.

“We lost 20-18 and it was a hard, hard game. Personally my performance was solid, I made a couple of errors but I grew in confidence as the game went on.”

Starts have followed against Montauban and last week against Brive, and talks are already under way to extending Davies’ stay in the Paris capital.

That is a far cry from the days when Davies was turned away from the Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire RFU before Shaun Wright, a Derbyshire coach, organised a run-out at the Nottingham academy.

The Green and Whites took a chance on the 16-year-old and two years later he was starting for the first team under the astute guidance of Glenn Delaney.