Ieuan Evans

Ieuan Evans
Ieuan Evans
Full name Ieuan Cennydd Evans
Date of birth (1964-03-21) 21 March 1964
Place of birth Pontardulais, Wales
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight 13 st 5 lb (85 kg)
School Queen Elizabeth Grammar
University Salford University
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position Wing
Amateur clubs
Years Club / team
Carmarthen Quins RFC
Llanelli RFC
Bath
Barbarian F.C.
National team(s)
Years Club / team Caps (points)
1987–1998
1989–1997		 Wales
British and Irish Lions		 72
7		 (157)
(5)

Ieuan Cennydd Evans MBE (born 21 March 1964) is a former rugby union player who played on the wing for Wales and the British and Irish Lions. He is the 3rd highest try scorer for Wales behind Shane Williams and Gareth Thomas and joint 19th in the world on the all-time Test try scoring list. Evans held the record for the most Wales caps as captain with 28, a record only recently overtaken by Ryan Jones in 2012.[1]

Career

Club Level

Evans was born in Pontarddulais, Wales, and started playing rugby at the age of 10 as a pupil at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Carmarthen before captaining the team at the newly renamed Queen Elizabeth Maridunum School. When he was 17, Evans started playing for Carmarthen Quins RFC youth side before joining Llanelli two years later, initially as a student at Salford University. He went on to win five of seven cup finals for the club. In 1997 he left Llanelli for Bath where he was part of the team which won the Heineken Cup in 1998.[2]

International Level

While at Llanelli, Evans gained a call-up to the Welsh National Side and made his first international appearance as a right-wing for Wales against France in Paris in 1987. He went on to win 72 caps for Wales, 28 of which as a captain, and scored 33 tries – at that time a record for Wales – and was dubbed "Merlin" by TV commentator Bill McLaren.[3] In March 1994, he captained Wales when the team won the Five Nations Championship.

Evans went on three tours with the British and Irish Lions, to Australia in 1989, New Zealand in 1993 and South Africa in 1997. Among his most memorable moments were scoring the decisive series-winning try in the 3rd Lions Test against Australia in 1989 and his four tries against the All Blacks in 1993, which made him the Lion's top try scorer. He made his final international appearance against Italy in 1998.

Personal life

Evans was awarded the MBE for services to rugby in 1996, and announced his retirement from the game in 1998 to run his own PR marketing company.[4]

In 2007 he was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame. In 2014 he was introduced to the IRB Hall of Fame.[5]

After retiring from professional rugby, Evans has been a regular broadcaster, presenter and rugby pundit. He has worked for the BBC,[6] ITV and currently for Sky Sports for over a decade. He has held a non-executive and ambassadorial positions for a number of companies and has been a board member of the Welsh Tourist Board, VisitBritain, 2010 Ryder Cup and Nominet Wales Advisory Group.

Evans is involved in a number of charities. Since 2008 he has raised funds and organized sporting events for Help for Heroes.[7][8] He has been actively involved in supporting Velindre Cancer Centre Wales. In 2010, he took part in the 'Captains Climb' which saw 15 past captains of the Welsh Rugby team climb Mount Kilimanjaro, raising thousands of pounds toward the work of the charity.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Ryan Jones breaks captaincy record". rugbynews.co.nz. 12 December 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2012.
  2. ↑ http://www.scarlets.co.uk/eng/heritage/2170.php
  3. ↑ "Ieuan Evans on Wales v England in the Six Nations and taking The Land Rover Challenge". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  4. ↑ Henry, Graham (12 April 2012). "Ieuan Evans devastated after sudden death of his sister Non". walesonline.co.uk. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  5. ↑ "Newsroom - Welsh Rugby Union - Official Website : Three Welsh legends join IRB Hall of Fame". wru.co.uk. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  6. ↑ "BBC Sport - Rugby Union - Ieuan Evans' column". Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  7. ↑ Northcroft, Jonathan (31 August 2008). "Scott Gibbs and Ieuan Evans benefit Help for Heroes". thesundaytimes.co.uk. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  8. ↑ lmudaly (10 June 2011). "Help for Heroes 2 – North v South match". rugbyworld.com. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  9. ↑ "Brains - Captains Climb Ale". Retrieved 12 March 2016.

External links

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