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THE HERALD TODAY

How Evans brothers became Europe’s hottest ticket
KEVIN FERRIE March 06 2009
The Evans brothers' emergence among Scottish sport's brightest talents has been worthy of an old-fashioned comic strip.

Blessed with an array of talents, Thom toyed with the possibility of a career as a pop singer or an Olympian, while Max became a professional golfer during a couple of years out of rugby while troubled with a back injury.

Products of Berkshire's Wellington College, both are confident to the point of cockiness. Yet they are among the most approachable members of the Scotland squad to which their presence has brought the sort of buzz the Hastings brothers first took into the Murrayfield dressing room close to a quarter of a century ago.

Thom was first to make his mark in a rugby international in Scotland three years ago, not as a member of the home team but representing the England in an under-21 game in which he twice ripped open the Scottish defence to score a brace of tries in a crushing 49-22 win.

It was with some amazement that those of us who witnessed that performance discovered weeks later not only that Sean Lineen had persuaded Wasps to let the youngster come to Glasgow Warriors but that he was opting to switch allegiance to Scotland. He was qualified to do so because of his Glasgow-born grandfather, Fred Thom, after whom he was named.

A hat-trick on his Warriors debut in a pre-season match confirmed his prodigious talent, while during his first few weeks at the club he persuaded Lineen to give Max a trial. It quickly became clear, from his earliest appearances with Glasgow Hawks, that with a lower centre of gravity this was a very different type of player from his brother but perhaps an even greater asset as a nimble line-breaker whose strength and sense of balance constantly defeated would-be tacklers.

This season they have established themselves as having the potential to become among the top earners in the sport.

After winning his first cap in Argentina last summer, Thom established himself in the Scotland squad during the autumn, having already established himself as the front-runner to finish the season as the Magners League's top try scorer. He then put in a spectacular performance, scoring a hat-trick of tries and winning the man of the match award as the Warriors came close to shocking Bath on their own turf, before playing a part in all three Warriors tries in January, when they produced that long-awaited major Heineken Cup away win.

Max, meanwhile, used the early part of this season to force his way into the Scotland squad with a series of fine displays before scoring one of the Warriors tries and taking his turn to win a man of the match award on foreign soil in the famous defeat of Toulouse. That underlined the fact that while Max owes his career in Scottish rugby to Thom, their sibling rivalry is healthy for their teams, as has already been demonstrated in this season's Six Nations.

Having made his Test debut off the bench against Canada to set up a try for Rory Lamont, he scored a spectacular solo score against Wales when he was again used as a replacement in the Six Nations opener. A week later Thom, whose omission from the squad for the Wales game had been widely criticised, made his championship debut and duly levelled with his first international try.

Both were also involved in setting up the second of Scotland's tries for Scott Gray in last week's win over Italy, but they are also acutely aware that they are just starting their Test careers and have much to learn, which has doubtless contributed to their decisions to stay in Scottish rugby.

This article was posted on 6-Mar-2009, 08:23 by Hugh Barrow.