THE TELEGRAPH REPORTS

He also had all the patience a five-year-old needs to open 25 Christmas presents in three seconds flat. You might say that rugby was a bit of a compromise between the two.
Except, of course, that making compromises usually mean lowering your horizons. And maybe Evans thought he would be doing something like that when he packed in his life as a club pro in Portugal and decided to devote himself to rugby instead, joining his brother Thom in Glasgow.

The revival isn't exactly imminent. Evans, a good enough scrum-half to be invited to join the Harlequins academy, hit the fast-forward button as soon as he arrived in Scotland.
In 2006 he popped along to Glasgow Hawks to see if they might give him a game. In 2007, he was offered a contract, alongside Thom, with the Glasgow professional team. In 2008, he won his first Scottish cap. Golf can stay on the back-burner for a while.
"I enjoy it more now because there's no pressure," he says of his occasional excursions on the links. "Playing as a pro, when you have all the pressures and stresses, can be tough. Now, it's just about going out, having a laugh and trying to take some money off your mates by stealing a few shots. "
Evans was denied his opportunity for a spot of banditry in Buenos Aires earlier this week when a violent electrical storm over the city forced the cancellation of the golf day he and a few Scotland team-mates had planned.
So the attention turned, as it had in life's bigger picture, to rugby matters and the challenge of backing up last Saturday's thrilling win against Argentina in Tucuman by doing the double over the Pumas in Mar del Plata this weekend.
Coach Andy Robinson has restored Evans to his club berth at centre. It is a bold move, for the 26-year-old's last two appearances for his country were on the wing and both produced victories. Is Robinson fixing something that clearly isn't broken? Or just trying to keep the Argentines guessing?
As far as Evans is concerned, being chosen in the midfield is a vote of confidence in his all-round abilities, rather than just an acknowledgement of scalding pace. What Robinson is saying is that he has class as well as gas. And what Evans is saying is that he is wants the opportunity to prove it.
"It is a nice feeling to know hat Andy has the confidence to put me there and I have the confidence to play there," Evans explains. "I've looked at my performance last week and there were a couple of half-breaks and the one good break where I spilt the ball. Going into this game I feel I'll get those opportunities again, especially being at 13 where I should get the ball more."
The turnover Evans speaks about led directly to Argentina's first try. In truth, that was a defensive failure at the other end of the pitch, and his break was still one of the brightest moments in Scotland's performance. But Evans concedes that having a gift is only one part of being a top player. Knowing when to use it is the clever bit.
"I've learned that whenever I touch the ball it's not always going to be a try-scoring opportunity," he says. "At this level, tries come from multiple phases, keeping hold of the ball and wearing teams down."
That old patience thing again. Maybe he has a future on those fairways after all.
SCOTLAND: H Southwell; S Lamont, M Evans, G Morrison, S Danielli; D Parks, R Lawson; A Jacobsen, R Ford, M Low, J Hamilton A Kellock (capt), K Brown, J Beattie, J Barclay.
Substitutes: S Lawson, A Dickinson, S MacLeod, A Strokosch, M Blair, P Godman, N De Luca.

This article was originally posted on 17-Jun-2010, 21:23 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 17-Jun-2010, 22:04.