GOOD EVANS! MAX JOINS BROTHER ON SCOTLAND TOUR
Posted: 13/May/08
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Moray Low, the uncapped 23-year-old prop, is out of the Scotland tour to Argentina next month.

But while the door closes for the moment for one Glasgow Warrior, it springs open for another as Max Evans, the 24-year-old centre/wing, will now join his younger brother Thom on the trip to South America.

Low sustained an ankle injury playing in Warriors' Magners League victory over Munster in Cork at the weekend. Scotland team doctor James Robson said: "Moray will be subject to further assessment but on reviewing the X-ray he will be in a compression boot for two weeks then undergo a period of rehabilitation of between four to six weeks, which will rule him out of the tour."

Low's place will be taken by the experienced Edinburgh prop Craig Smith, who first toured Argentina as part of the Scotland under-19 squad that also included Chris Paterson in 1997.

Smith was named last week in the Scotland A squad for the Barclay's Churchill Cup in North America next month. A replacement for that squad will be announced later this week.

Meanwhile, two of the casualties among the Scotland backs, Nikki Walker and Rory Lamont, have not recovered in time from leg and knee injuries respectively so will therefore be unable to fill any of the vacancies in the tour party to Argentina.

Scotland coach Frank Hadden said: "We have decided to promote Max Evans from the Scotland A squad. Max has played well in the Magners League for Glasgow and is another to have benefited from involvement with both Scotland A and Scotland 7s.

"We are still waiting to see if Simon Webster will recover from his hamstring injury to make the tour. He'll be subject to further monitoring and we'd hope to make a decision on Simon next week," Hadden added.

Evans was delighted by his inclusion. "I'm completely over the moon. I thought there might be a slight chance of making the tour, especially when I saw there were still places to fill in the squad and knowing the selectors would be watching the last few games of the season," he said.

Like Smith, a decision on who replaces Max Evans in the Scotland A squad will be made later this week.


MAX EVANS (Glasgow Warriors)
Centre. Born: 12.09.83 in Torquay. Height: 5ft 9in (1.75m). Weight: 13st 11lb (87.9kg).
Max Brian Evans marked his A international debut by scoring two tries as a replacement wing in Scotlands 67-7 win against Ireland at McDiarmid Park, Perth, in February 2008. He joined Glasgow Warriors from Glasgow Hawks a year earlier after following his brother, Thom, north to play rugby. The utility back, whose preferred position is at outside centre, had previously played with London Scottish and was a member of Harlequins academy set-up. His appearances for Harlequins first XV were curtailed by a back injury. Taking time away from rugby, Max was a professional golfer in Portugal from 2004 to 2006. During that time he underwent physio rehab on his back injury to allow him to return to the rugby field, which he did through the seven-a-side game. During 2006 he was under the guidance of the formidable fitness coach, Margo Wells (wife of the Olympic sprinter Allan). Max has played in four IRB world series sevens tournaments, all in 2007, making his debut in Hong Kong and playing the subsequent Adelaide (Australia), and Twickenham events. Previously, he had played in the demonstration sevens match at half-time during the Six Nations game between Scotland and Ireland at Murrayfield in March 2007.
International record: Scotland A and Scotland sevens (3 caps).

This article was posted on 13-May-2008, 20:00 by Hugh Barrow.