THE HEALD REPORTS

When I walk off after every rugby game . . . every single game, I’m thankful
Published on 10 Feb 2011


For Scotland’s Evans brothers last weekend’s RBS 6 Nations opener proved more difficult to deal with than they had anticipated, which is part of the reason why the younger of them will be thousands of miles from Murrayfield when Wales visit on Saturday.

It was in last year’s corresponding fixture in Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium when, playing alongside Max, who had taken the field as a replacement, Thom’s career ended after he suffered a broken neck.

Now in the process of rebuilding his life in some style, Thom thought he had come to terms with the events of that day, as did Max, but both were jolted by this season’s opener.

“I spoke to Thom yesterday and I spoke to him after the game on Sunday,” said Max. “He won’t be coming to this game. I know he was asked to be in the press booth, just on the off chance, but he’s very happy to be in Los Angeles at the moment.

“When we were talking about the game in France on Saturday he actually said it was hugely emotional watching it. He’s seen rugby being played and seen me playing rugby since the injury, but obviously it’s the start of the Six Nations which is where it all happened last year, so from his point of view it was hugely emotional last weekend and I’m sure it will be pretty emotional this week.

“I think that’s almost why, apart from the fact that he’s very comfortable in LA at the moment and it’s a long trip, it would be emotional for him to come back. It’s been a long time and he’s accepted the fact that he won’t be able to play international rugby again and he’s also seen me playing numerous games, so that was unexpected.”

Max, meanwhile, has been forced to confront anew the fact they will never play together again.

“The only moments of reflection I’ve had and found myself feeling slightly emotional is when we were watching video clips before the French game. There are some of those clips where Thom had a great run and scored a great try and stuff,” he explained.

“It’s only moments like that when you just see it again, even though I obviously knew what he’d done in his career, that it sinks in a little bit. But I’ve had time to accept it as well and time to get used to the fact that he’s not on the field with me.”

However, Max clearly takes considerable solace from the belief that, even though Thom’s greatest success to date as a thespian was performing as singer Ricky Martin in a school play, he has a great future as an actor given that the collision which ended his rugby career was a rare, even unique, instance of him getting his timing wrong.

“My brother’s always been one of those guys who seems to be in the right place at the right time,” he grinned. “The number of stories he’s accumulated over the years . . . I’ve said: ‘How do you find yourself in that position?’ ”

Pressed to explain, he cited Thom’s recent high-profile liaison with a well-known model. “Take, for example, the meeting with Kelly Brooke. He didn’t pursue her, he just happened to be in the right place at the right time and then, given who he is, he can work his magic almost,” said Max.

“So I have no doubt in terms of who he is that he will make it in whatever he pursues. The acting at the moment is what he’s doing in Los Angeles and I can report that he’s enjoying it thoroughly. Obviously he’s done a bit of acting in school plays, but never really had any acting classes, so all this time just now is just trying to find what he wants to do.”

It is a strange twist of fate since it was Max whose professional rugby career looked to have been ended by a back injury a few years ago until Thom put in a word for him with Sean Lineen, the Glasgow Warriors head coach, which earned him a second chance. Max acknowledges that Thom’s experience has given him pause for thought and that there have been moments that it has affected his on-field thinking, while becoming even more aware of the dangers that confront players. “When I walk off after every rugby game . . . every single game, I’m thankful,” he admitted. “I’m sure anyone who’s been involved or had a friend who’s had a nasty injury, not even of the severity of my brother’s, just an injury that’s restricted them from playing rugby, whether it’s a knee injury or a shoulder, I’m sure they have that feeling coming off a game, that they’re still able to continue.

“I look at Thom’s injury and you look at the detail of what happened and when you watch it back, it really could happen to anyone. It was a really innocuous challenge and he just tilted his head down slightly and it’s the speed he went in.

“I played against Cardiff the following week and I was a bit tentative about going into tackles and making tackles, but I’d hate to think how many actual collisions and hits I’ve been involved in since that.”

Additional emotions may be evoked on Saturday, then, but Max has proved repeatedly over the past year that he is able to control those and concentrate on the job to be done, which amid all the day’s distractions, Scotland failed to when they threw away a winning position to lose to Wales last year.

If they can do that again, but this time hold on to it, both Evans brothers will feel they are in the right time and the right place on Saturday evening.

This article was originally posted on 11-Feb-2011, 08:32 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 11-Feb-2011, 08:36.