Wales Rugby Icon Jonathan Davies CBE: Union, League & Life After Sport

Welcome back to Brave Bold Brilliant, the podcast where we talk to incredible people about their experiences in business and in life, gaining first-hand insight into how they've unleashed their potential to become brave, bold, and brilliant. 

In this episode, host Jeannette Linfoot sits down with a genuine legend of Welsh rugby, Jonathan "Jiffy" Davies CBE, one of only a handful of players in history to captain his country in both rugby codes, Union and League. From his beginnings in Trimsaran, Carmarthenshire, Jonathan became one of the most gifted fly-halves of his generation, before making the bold decision to walk away from a successful Union career to reinvent himself in League, and then coming back to do it all again.

ABOUT THE EPISODE Jonathan and Jeannette unpack 10 lessons in leadership and life shaped by his extraordinary journey: vision and values, working hard and loving what you do, failure and self-belief, resilience and mental toughness, teamwork and communication, adaptability and reinvention, treating people right, embracing diversity and inclusion, work-life balance, and the legacy he wants to leave behind. It's a conversation about what it really takes to reinvent yourself again and again, on the pitch, on air, and in business, while staying true to your values.

ABOUT THE GUEST — Jonathan Davies CBE Jonathan Davies CBE (born 24 October 1962) is one of Wales' most celebrated dual-code rugby players, having achieved international success in both rugby union and rugby league. He played for Neath, Llanelli and Cardiff in Union, winning 37 caps for Wales, before his shock 1989 move to rugby league with Widnes, one of the biggest transfer stories in world rugby at the time. He went on to play for Warrington, the Canterbury Bulldogs and North Queensland Cowboys, representing both Wales and Great Britain, before returning to Union with Cardiff.

Since retiring from the pitch, "Jiffy" has become one of the most recognisable voices in rugby broadcasting, working with BBC Sport, S4C, and covering the Six Nations, Rugby World Cup and British & Irish Lions tours. He also hosts his own Welsh-language chat show, "Jonathan," on S4C. Alongside his media career, Jonathan has moved into business development, and his long-standing charity work, particularly as President of Velindre Cancer Centre, for whom he has helped raise over £50 million,  earned him an OBE in 2015 and a CBE in the 2026 King's New Year Honours for his services to broadcasti