David Alexander Evans (4 October 1886 – 12 October 1940) was a New Zealand dual-code international rugby player who represented

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in both

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

Playing career

Rugby union

Evans began his career playing

and represented

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

19 times from 1906. He made the 1910 New Zealand tour of Australia and played in the 0–11 Test defeat by Australia at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and as ...

on 27 June 1910, becoming the Hawke's Bay's third representative.

Rugby league

While in Australia, Evans had been impressed by the

code and, in 1911, he was instrumental in helping to persuade three Hawke's Bay clubs – Clive, Ahuriri and Kia Toa – to switch ''en masse'' to rugby league. A

Hawke's Bay rugby league team The Hawke's Bay rugby league team are a New Zealand rugby league team that represents the Hawke's Bay Rugby League in New Zealand Rugby League competitions. They are nicknamed the Unicorns. They competed in the Lion Red Cup between 1994 and 1996. ...

representative, he represented

on the 1912 tour of Australia, where no test matches were played. He played 5 matches for New Zealand on the tour. He played for the City club in the inaugural Hawke's Bay rugby league competition in 1911 playing 11 matches and 1 match for a combined City-Kia Ora team against Clive-Ahuriri for charity. In the same season he played three matches for Hawke's Bay (two against Wanganui and one against

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

). He also played a match for the Napier team against Dannevirke. In 1912, he played for Hawke's Bay against

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and then against the touring

New South Wales rugby league team The New South Wales rugby league team has represented the Australian state of New South Wales in rugby league football since the sport's beginnings there in 1907. Also known as the Blues due to their sky blue jerseys, the team competes in the ann ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Dave 1886 births 1940 deaths Dual-code rugby internationals Hawke's Bay rugby league team players Hawke's Bay rugby union players New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union players Rugby league players from Napier, New Zealand Rugby league second-rows Rugby union flankers Rugby union locks Rugby union players from Napier, New Zealand