Ieuan Cennydd Evans (born 21 March 1964) is a former

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 ...

player who played on the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

. He is the fourth highest try scorer for Wales behind

Shane Williams Shane Mark Williams, (born 26 February 1977) is a Welsh rugby union player most famous for his long and successful tenure as a wing for the Ospreys and the Wales national team. He also played scrum-half on occasion. Williams is the record t ...

George North George Philip North (born 13 April 1992) is a Welsh professional rugby union player who plays for the Ospreys in the United Rugby Championship and the Wales national team. He has also represented the British & Irish Lions and currently has th ...

and Gareth Thomas and joint 24th 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 overtaken by

Ryan Jones Ryan Paul Jones (born 13 March 1981) is a Wales former international rugby union player who played at number eight, blindside flanker or second row. He was involved in three Grand Slam wins, in 2005, as captain in 2008, and 2012. He is one o ...

in 2012.

Career

Club level

Evans was born in

Pontarddulais Pontarddulais (), also known as Pontardulais (), is both a community and a town in Swansea, Wales. It is northwest of the city centre. The Pontarddulais ward is part of the City and County of Swansea. Pontarddulais adjoins the village of Hendy i ...

, Wales, and started playing rugby at the age of 10 as a pupil at

Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Carmarthen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mothe ...

before captaining the team at the newly renamed Queen Elizabeth Maridunum School. When he was 17, Evans started playing for

Carmarthen Quins RFC Carmarthen Quins Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Cwins Caerfyrddin) are one of two Welsh rugby union clubs based in Carmarthen in West Wales, the other being Carmarthen Athletic. They currently play in the Welsh Premier Division and are a ...

youth side before joining Llanelli two years later, initially as a student at

Salford University , caption = Coat of ArmsUniversity of Salford , mottoeng = "Let us seek higher things" , established = 1850 - Pendleton Mechanics Institute 1896 – Royal Technical Institute, Salford 1967 – gained ...

. 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 The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

in 1998. At the twilight of his career, Evans played twice for the Hong Kong Football Club in 2015 and 2016, in their annual Bali Memorial game in his preferred position of fly-half, against the Pot Bellied Pigs. In the 2016 game, Evans scored a breakaway try under the posts, which he later said was the finest of his career.

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 France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

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 Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...

" by TV commentator

Bill McLaren William Pollock McLaren (16 October 1923 – 19 January 2010) was a Scottish rugby union commentator, teacher, journalist and one time rugby player. Known as 'the voice of rugby', he retired from commentating in 2002. Renowned throughout th ...

. In March 1994, he captained Wales when the team won the

Five Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...

. Evans went on three tours with the

, to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1989,

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 1993 and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

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 during the 1993 tour to New Zealand, which made him the Lions' top try scorer. He made his final international appearance against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in 1998.

Personal life

Evans was awarded the

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

for services to rugby in 1996, and announced his retirement from the game in 1998 to run his own PR marketing company. In 2007 he was inducted into the

International Rugby Hall of Fame The International Rugby Hall of Fame (IRHOF) was a hall of fame for rugby union. It was created in 1997 in New Zealand and is run as a charitable trust with an address at Chiswick in London. Most of the trustees are also inductees. IRHOF acc ...

. In 2014 he was introduced to the IRB Hall of Fame. He has 3 children; Lili (born 1997), Cai (born 1999) and Tirion (born 2001). After retiring from professional rugby, Evans has been a regular broadcaster, presenter and rugby pundit. He has worked for the BBC, 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 VisitBritain is the name used by the British Tourist Authority, the tourist board of Great Britain incorporated under the Development of Tourism Act 1969. Under memoranda of understanding with the Northern Ireland Tourist Board and the offshore is ...

, 2010 Ryder Cup and Nominet Wales Advisory Group. In September 2020 he was elected for a three-year term on the Welsh Rugby Union's National Council. Evans is involved in a number of charities. Since 2008 he has raised funds and organised sporting events for

Help for Heroes Help for Heroes (H4H) is a British charity which provides lifelong recovery support to British Armed Forces service personnel who have been wounded or injured in the line of duty, and to their families, originally only since 11 September 2001, th ...

. He has been actively involved in supporting the

Velindre Cancer Centre The Velindre Cancer Centre ( cy, Canolfan Ganser Felindre) is a specialist facility caring for cancer patients in Whitchurch, Cardiff, Wales. It is managed by the Velindre University NHS Trust. History The facility was established as Velindre Ho ...

. 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.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Ieuan 1964 births Living people Alumni of the University of Salford Barbarian F.C. players Bards of the Gorsedd Bath Rugby players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Wales Llanelli RFC players Members of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Queen Elizabeth High School, Carmarthen Rugby union players from Swansea Rugby union wings Wales international rugby union players Wales rugby union captains Welsh rugby union players World Rugby Hall of Fame inductees