Nigel Davies was born in Waun y Clun, Trimsaran and as a youth player played for local rugby union club Trimsaran RFC.

In his final year of playing for the youth team he was invited by Llanelli RFC to play for them in a friendly match, from which he impressed enough to be selected by the club.

Davies played 397 games for Llanelli including nine WRU Challenge Cup finals (a club record), and scored 115 tries.

Davies was appointed assistant coach to the Wales national team under Gareth Jenkins and was appointed caretaker Head Coach following the departure of Jenkins after the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

Davies was announced as the head coach of the Scarlets on 14 May 2008, following the departure of Phil Davies in April 2008.