Interview: Thom Evans - 'I don't want to regret not living my life to the full'

• Thom Evans. Picture: Robert Perry

Not, I should add, because my domestic arrangements have taken a sudden and surprising turn for the better, but because the Scotland and Glasgow Warriors winger yesterday became one of three national rugby stars (along with Chris Paterson and Ross Ford) to replace the vest-clad stone-putter on Scott's Porage Oats boxes.

It's a milestone for an iconic product that has sustained Evans' sporting stamina since childhood. The one-time England Schools sprinter, golfer and boyband star may have been born in Zimbabwe and educated in England, but his maternal grandfather, Fred Thom, was staunchly Glaswegian and determined that neither Thom nor his brother Max should forget their Scottish heritage – or the national breakfast dish.

So when Evans – now 24 and playing alongside Max, 26, for the top team in the Magners League and in the Scotland squad – arrives, sporting the ghost of a black eye, my first question is one designed to sort the men from the boys: salt, or sugar?

"Well… I always eat my porridge with honey or brown sugar. I've got a really sweet tooth," he says a bit sheepishly, admitting that his idea of bliss is gunning through a packet of chocolate digestives in one sitting. He thinks it's a hangover from his Berkshire school days at Wellington College, where the food in the refectory was so unappealing that he filled up on sweets from the tuck shop instead.

His explosive speed and streamlined, 6ft physique owe more to healthy food and good genes than to chocolate, though. "My Scottish grandad, who introduced me to rugby, always made sure I ate porridge in the morning. My mum's a great believer that it helps with the exercise, too." It was Fred Thom who put pressure on his daughter Sally, a former sprint champion for Durban, and her husband Brian Evans, once a European Open pro golfer and now running the Algarve's Quinta do Lago course, to educate their two sons at Wellington College, a British breeding ground for rugby talent and one of the 21 founding establishments of the Rugby Football Union.

Aged nine, Thom was dispatched from his carefree existence in subtropical Harare to an English prep school, which introduced him to discipline and boundaries of a kind he had not encountered before. "I felt like a complete outsider; it was tough for the first few terms. Even my mum says that if she could turn back the clock she wouldn't have sent me away so early – some of the letters I wrote were quite heartbreaking for her – but I have no regrets."

Sport being a great leveller for children from disparate backgrounds, however, Evans's athleticism quickly won him recognition and friends. At Wellington College his prodigious rugby talent came to the fore (he was also an England Schools sprinter and a South of England Under-16s golfer) and, having played for England at Under 16 and Under 18 level, Evans was expected to sign with the London team Harlequins after he left school in 2004. Instead, he embarked on the kind of gap year that most teenagers can only fantasise about.

"I was approached by my friend Andy, who'd been setting up a band. There were four of them, but one dropped out and he asked me if I'd be interested in stepping in. It was the biggest decision of my life, but I said yes straight away. I then had to make a very difficult phone call, to tell the rugby coach that I'd decided to join a boyband called Twen2y 4 Se7en and go off on tour. I was deeply surprised by how supportive he was: I'd expected a backlash."

Evans is, intriguingly, a mass of contradictions: softly spoken and slightly shy in person, yet dauntless on the pitch; he shows gentle good manners and natural diffidence, but also the mercurial demeanour of a Renaissance man determined to get as much living under his belt as he possibly can. Despite his love of performing with Twen2y 4 Se7en, being a focus of desire for thousands of teenage girls, his instincts told him not to abandon that ambition to make his mark in rugby, so in 2005 he made his debut with London Wasps, moving on to join Glasgow Warriors in 2006. His star potential was evident from the start and his first cap for Scotland came in June 2008, not many months after his grandfather died. "I got quite emotional, because I knew he would have been overwhelmed to see me run out in a Scotland jersey."

Fred Thom's loyalty to his Glasgow origins lives on in his grandsons. "Africa's got a big place in my heart," the younger Evans says, "and being at school in England made me the person I am today: I like having that mixed background, but in terms of nationality I feel Scottish. This is my fourth season in Scotland. I've been very lucky to have a few different careers, but rugby is where I always wanted to be. Living with my brother helps – we do have the odd argument, but we spur each other on."

Thom and Max recently moved to the Park Circus area of Glasgow, having left their previous flat, off Byres Road, because it was "a student neighbourhood and too noisy. The people living above us had their own DJ decks… a bit annoying when you're trying to get a good night's sleep."

He's clearly dedicated to his pitch performance, but Evans's team-mates won't let him forget his showbiz past: "I'm always made to sing when we're on the coach; Lean On Me's a big favourite." Any more musical talent in the squad? "Chris Cusiter's good on the guitar – we've been thinking about getting a band together. Finding the time is difficult, but it would be great."

His social life here revolves around drinks or dinner – often at Nando's in Springfield Quay – and cinema outings with fellow players (he's a massive fan of Gerard Butler in the recent thriller Law Abiding Citizen). There's been little time to make friends outside rugby in Scotland and most of the squad are married or attached, but that's not something the resolutely single Evans is pursuing: "I'm not ready to settle down yet."

Something he would happily commit to, though, is competing in Strictly Come Dancing. "I love dancing, so I'd absolutely jump at the chance," he grins, clearly having given it some thought. "Rugby brings discipline to everyday life with the amount of training required, which is why I think Austin Healy and Matt Dawson did so well on Strictly. What might let me down, though, is my flexibility. My hips move quite well, but if it came to doing the splits I'd have to work pretty hard."

His love of the fairway is still strong, too: last summer, he says, "I played some of the best golf of my life," but his shoulder mobility has suffered as a result of aches and pains from recent Friday-night rugby fixtures. This summer he and Max hope to exact revenge on his dad's cousin, Radio 2's new breakfast presenter Chris Evans, and his wife Natasha, who last year subjected the brothers to a rare defeat on the golf course which they have yet to live down. "Natasha is really good," Evans admits. "Chris is a bit of a bandit player, but he always hits it straight."

And if that's not enough Evans diversity, you can see more – a lot more – in the latest Dieux du Stade ("Gods of the Stadium") calendar. The annual French publication is legendary, depicting international rugby stars in all their glory, and this year the Evans brothers were invited to pose for it. Thom, typically, went a step further by agreeing to a full-frontal shot.

"If you could have seen absolutely everything I wouldn't have said yes, but because it's fairly subtle I thought it was OK. I've had some stick for it, obviously." And his mum's reaction? "She was shocked." I'll bet she was: suffice it to say that you'll have to track down those images for yourself to see why.

He's now gearing up for his second RBS Six Nations tournament, with Scotland's first fixture, against France, due to take place just a month from now. "The mood in our camp and the confidence among the team is the highest I've seen it, since Andy Robinson took over as coach. The discipline has made me a lot more focused; I'm not as relaxed as I used to be.

"I don't want to regret not living my youth to the full when I'm older," he says in all seriousness, having had more adventures in 24 years than most of us do in a lifetime, "but what I get out of rugby makes it totally worthwhile.

"I meet a lot of people my age who rely on others to do things for them, and I'm really pleased I'm not like that. I manage to cook basic meals for myself, like spaghetti Bolognese, and a good breakfast. I can make my own porridge – that's really all I need."