THE HERALD REPORTS

Max Evans shrugs off trauma of brother’s injury to help Glasgow Warriors in hour of need against Cardiff Blues
Published on 19 Feb 2010


Kevin Ferrie

It was the last thing that Sean Lineen expected and nothing could have given him or his threadbare squad a bigger boost than the call he received from Max Evans this week.

After the horrors he went through last Saturday, first watching his motionless younger brother being frantically treated by medics on the Millennium Stadium pitch, then finding out afterwards that Thom was to undergo emergency surgery on damaged neck vertebrae, the 26-year-old could have been forgiven for wanting to be anywhere but a rugby ground this weekend. The Glasgow Warriors centre’s response was quite the opposite.

“Max rang me up and he was desperate to play which is fantastic,” revealed Lineen, the club’s head coach. “It was traumatic for him last weekend so it was a pleasant surprise to get that call and it gave everyone a lift. He’s a quality player and with what he’s gone through it is a real show of character. I think he will start against Italy next week, but he wants to play. He really wants to win something with Glasgow, he wants to play his part and he’s been great all week.”

Richie Vernon has recovered from glandular fever faster than had been expected, while Richie Gray is another who played in Cardiff and has been made available. Consequently the Magners League leaders field a slightly stronger team than it might have been, albeit Rob Dewey is their latest internationalist to be ruled out after breaking a hand playing for Gael Force last weekend.

Having said which, Dai Young, coach of the visiting Cardiff Blues, has claimed a matching number of unavailable players, 13 in all because of a similar combination of international duties and injury, yet his side still contains only three uncapped players. It will be led by Paul Tito, who has represented the Maoris, but is the only non-All Black among their four New Zealanders, while there are two who have represented the Pacific Islanders combined side.

“That sums up the difference between the haves and the have-nots, but there are things we’ve got that they haven’t and that’s what we’ve got to exploit,” said Lineen.

What Glasgow have was not only demonstrated by the older Evans brother and by Vernon, but by the rest of their international contingent this week. Pointing out that “the coaching, analysis and gameplan revolves around the players that we’ve got,” Lineen has drawn inspiration from Scotland’s Cardiff performance.

“There was a lot of Glasgow in that,” he said of Scotland’s best attacking performance for years. “I was really delighted with our boys and the way they played was outstanding. With Chris Cusiter leading them there were two tries by Glasgow boys [John Barclay and Max Evans] and the way Dan [Parks] controlled the game, big Al [Kellock] and the back-row and Graeme Morrison …

“I know how Dan Parks can play and what thrilled me most was seeing him play exactly as he can for Glasgow in the white-hot arena of a Test match. He had a game plan that I think he had a say in and the intelligence was there in terms of what was needed to keep him at the forefront of that game.

“He’s been around all week and so have all the Scotland players. It’s been fantastic. We played Hawks on Tuesday night in a training game and the Scotland boys were all along and they were there on Tuesday when we went to the David Lloyd centre to review the training. Even though they’ve got a week off they still all want to be part of it.

“That’s what makes this team tick as a group. The team spirit’s the best I’ve ever seen.”

As with Edinburgh, who travel to Cork to meet a Munster team that has proven its ability to do without its international contingent, Glasgow’s under-resourced squad is particularly exposed at this time of year.

In Glasgow’s case that has been compounded by the Magners League’s disgraceful decision to reward Leinster for the late call-off of their meeting with Glasgow last month, by forcing the Scots to head back there with what will be even more of an under-strength side than they have this week. But Lineen is aware that there is nothing to be gained from anyone in the camp feeling sorry for themselves. “The thing we’ve had all the time is that there can be no excuses, even though you could reel them off. It’s all about working out how do we win,” he said.

This is a crucial stage of the season for those with aspirations to be involved in the first ever league play-offs as contenders have to do without so many of their leading players and, as Lineen observed, as many as eight or nine of the 10 participating teams will still believe they can make it.

It is at this time of year that such as Munster and Leinster have made strides against their rivals because of the superior strength of their squads, underlining the scale of the challenge facing Edinburgh.

Cardiff, who have previously this season given the impression of being more focused on Europe, are also in that position. But they at least will find it very hard to close the gap on the leaders in the closing weeks of the season if they cannot claim what would be only their second league win ever in Glasgow tonight.

This article was originally posted on 19-Feb-2010, 07:44 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 19-Feb-2010, 08:05.