Scotland on Sunday reports


You cannot imagine many golf pros switching to professional rugby. But Max Evans isn't your average golf pro

Evans above: Younger sibling Thom gives Max Evans a 'friendly' hug as the brothers relax during Glasgow training.

A deep breath, exercise the furthest recesses of your wildest imagination just for a moment and try to envisage the golfer Colin Montgomerie playing full-time professional rugby. No, me neither. In fact it's a task that is beyond anyone who isn't gulping hallucinogens but Max Evans, one half of the most exciting duo playing the game in Scotland right now, has proved that it's not impossible to make the unlikely transition.

In fairness to Scotland's top golfer, the elder of Glasgow's rugby-playing siblings has not topped the European Order of Merit even once, let alone an astonishing eight times like Monty, but he is a PGA professional playing off scratch and just two years ago he was coaching golf in the Algarve for a living. Now he has a brace of tries for Scotland's second string XV under his belt and is facing a bright future as a Glasgow Warriors rugby player.

If you are one of those unfortunates who were in a hot shower when they handed out the raw talent then at least you now know who snaffled your portion of the goods. So why did Max give up a pleasant career on the golf courses of Europe?

"I haven't quit golf," he counters. "I'm a qualified PGA professional. I was out there in Portugal teaching golf and I was comfortable doing that. I could see myself doing that for the rest of my life. But the days were ticking by and a rugby career is something you need to do when you are young. I can go back to golf later in life."

Both men learned the game as boys at Wellington College. The elder brother joined Harlequins while the younger one ended up at Wasps where he met Danny Cipriani. "We used to go out on the town a lot but he doesn't drink at all!" They remain good friends.

A nasty back injury persuaded Max to concentrate on golf for two years but as he says more than once, "I love rugby" and even while playing golf tournaments in and around London he turned out for London Scottish just to get some games under his belt. He moved north last year and a season with Glasgow Hawks was enough to earn him a Warriors contract. Bizarrely Max played all his youth rugby at scrumhalf so at least his passing should be up to scratch.

"I played and played for Hawks on the wing and I think that (Warriors coach] Sean (Lineen] sees me as more of a running back. At the moment his aim is to get me involved in games on the wing with the aim of moving me to outside centre."

With four natural inside centres on their books, Glasgow undoubtedly need one genuine number 13 and, with budgets tight and Lineen's less-than-inspired signings proving a disappointment, it is probably best to look in-house. It is too early to say whether Max Evans has what it takes to fill what has become one of the most demanding roles on the rugby field but he did provide the most memorable moment of the season aside from that Calcutta Cup win. After scoring his first touchdown against Ireland A at Perth's McDiarmid Park the winger did a gymnast's cartwheel followed by a back flip. Scottish rugby has had little enough to celebrate this season to begrudge Evans his moment of spontaneous joy in the midst of that ten-try triumph.

The Evans brothers are naturally bouncy characters and entertaining company, even if they stick pretty closely to the agreed script when the tape recorder is running. They exude confidence without quite crossing into arrogant, sure of their abilities while knowing they have much still to learn. At one point Max says to Thom: "You are the fastest player in Scotland, probably in England," to which the response is a matter-of-fact: "Yeah, probably." He probably is.

When told of the upcoming interview, their coach's first reaction was: "Don't go filling their heads with mince." Only once he has been assured that their feet will remain firmly on the ground does Lineen soften his stance considerably.

"What do they bring to the club? Well, they bring a few good moves on the dance floor and two good voices when we have a singsong," he says of his young wingers whose presence surely boosts Firhill female support. "To be serious they have the 'X' factor, there is a buzz that goes through the crowd when they get the ball in their hands because they make things happen.

"They are both very driven characters. I'd put their potential right up there with the Lamont brothers but they both need an injury-free run."

It is interesting to note that while Sean and Rory Lamont both got their break at Glasgow, both moved down south to further their careers and Lineen will be mindful of not losing the next pair of potential superstars. They seem happy enough at the moment. As you'd expect, the two brothers have a healthy relationship and, now that they are sharing a flat together in Glasgow's West End, they may just spur each other to greater heights.

"Even though he's been out for years, Max has come on in leaps and bounds ever since he joined Glasgow," says his admiring younger brother. "Having Max in Scotland now it's a lot easier to do work together rather than just trying to do it by myself. We both have our spikes up here and we go use the Kelvin Hall from time to time."

For his part, Max may be the less experienced partner when it comes to rugby but, 18 months older, he still seems the leader of the pair who have always been rivals as well as friends.

Thom is the quicker runner but Max has a better step; Thom is the taller of the two but Max is the broader; Thom is further ahead in his rugby development but Max remains the better golfer. Thom scored two tries last weekend against the Dragons but the television commentator attributed them to Max. As a teenager, Thom pulled a girl by the name of Jenny Wilbreham but she was last spotted walking into the Portuguese sunset with Max. Whoops.

The two admit that they used to fight like cat and dog, and not just over girls. They only really stopped when they started knocking some serious lumps out of each other so the fallout from the Jenny affair may have done some good after all.

The two brothers will likely appear on the flanks when Glasgow host Edinburgh at Firhill next Friday for the 1872 Cup. With the West Coast side sitting just six points behind their rivals from the capital, no-one denies it is an important match for both the country's professional teams as they vie for Scottish bragging rights.

The question on everyone's mind is whether the Glasgow pair might not appear in international colours together, either on opposite wings or playing next to each other as outside centre and wing. It happened often enough at schoolboy level when they played sevens. Max was the creator, Thom the finisher, and given Scotland's woeful lack of pace at the highest level might that relationship be repeated at international level?

Both men are blisteringly fast and both are recklessly brave in contact but whether they have the footballing brain, that instinctive ability to anticipate the next phase of the game that has enabled Shane Williams to become the most dangerous back in Europe, only time will tell.

The only thing anyone can claim with any certainty is that the Evans brothers have a better chance of scorching down the Murrayfield touchline than Monty does. Honestly I've tried, but I still can't even envisage it.

This article was posted on 6-Apr-2008, 07:45 by Hugh Barrow.