Thom Evans to be reunited with Scots squad

Published on Wednesday 10 March 2010 22:23

SERIOUSLY injured Scotland winger Thom Evans plans to return to the squad camp tomorrow to provide a last message of good luck ahead of the Calcutta Cup match.

• Max Evans, brother of spinal injury victim Thom, says he owes it to his sibling to play to the very best of his ability. Picture: SNS

Evans suffered a spinal injury in the first half of Scotland's RBS Six Nations Championship match with Wales in Cardiff last month and after two operations to stabilise his neck he is back in Glasgow recovering with the help from local doctors and his mother Sally, who is a nurse.

His older brother Max spoke before the team returned to action in Italy of the long road to recovery that Thom faces and admitted he was unsure whether Thom would, or should, consider playing rugby again after the trauma he has experienced. Max now feels he owes it to his brother, however, to play to the best of his ability and it is a feeling that has spread through the squad.

Some players have visited Thom to pass on their best wishes, but Max revealed yesterday that his brother was hoping to be able to make the trip from Glasgow to Edinburgh tomorrow evening to show the whole squad that he is on the road to recovery and help to send them into Saturday's game with England at Murrayfield with renewed belief.

Max said: "He has not been in the car for any great length of time so I don't think he will come to the game – that is a big ask with the journey and sitting for so long – but if he is up for it he is hoping to come through and see all the guys on Friday evening.

"Every now and then he has to go on his back. He is going to see how he feels, but meeting on Friday evening is the initial plan as our mum could drive him through to see the guys and say hello and wish them luck. A few of them have been able to come through and see him but some of them haven't. It would be good for them to see him."

Max has been handed the opportunity to emulate his brother in facing England this weekend on the wing – he played at centre in last year's Calcutta Cup – with Scotland coach Andy Robinson insisting the shift is designed to give the older Evans more opportunity to get on the end of scoring chances. Thom came within inches of marking his first Calcutta Cup match with a try at Twickenham a year ago, but after a fine 80-metre sprint he was caught just before the try-line by a stunning last-ditch tackle from Ugo Monye – the only man on the field who could have caught the Scotland flyer. The elder Evans is looking forward to having similar opportunities this weekend.

He said: "There is nothing you want more than the coach to tell you to get your hands on the ball. He was glad I got my hands on the ball more against Italy but he wants me to do it even more against England.

"He has told me I am playing on the wing but to get in a situation where their front five is in the middle of the field and just have a go at them. I can be roaming around looking for the off-load, sometimes even run sevens lines where you hope for a breakthrough and I'm relishing the idea of getting the ball deep on the counter attack.

"Andy has spoken to me about all these things. I have the whole week to work on it and I'm really looking forward to it.

"I'm not as quick as Thom – he has always been a flat-out gas man with serious pace. In flat-out speed he is quicker but I am not slow, put it like that.

"I am quicker off the mark and can side-step and keep the pace going."

That competitive edge is an in-built part of the Evans brothers and Max, who was born and bred in England, played for England at under-16s and under-18s levels and went to school with James Haskell, the opposition's openside flanker this weekend, admitted excitement is bubbling up as his first experience of a Murrayfield Calcutta Cup approaches.

"My grandfather Fred Thom was a huge influence on me and Thom because he always supported everyone who played against England – a real Scot! But ever since I came to Scotland, and knowing the history of this game as I do, it has rubbed off. I know I sound English, but inside the heart I am very much Scottish."

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