Ieuan Evans

Who is Ieuan Evans?

Ieuan Evans 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 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 until over taken by Ryan Jones in 2012.

Evans was born in Pontarddulais, Wales, and started playing rugby as a pupil at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Carmarthen and for Carmarthen Quins RFC. At the age of 19 he joined Llanelli, initially while a student at Salford University. He went on to play in seven cup finals for the club, of which they won five. In 1997 he left Llanelli for Bath where he was part of the team which won the Heineken Cup in 1998.

He 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 and scored 33 tries – at that time a record for Wales – and was dubbed "Merlin" by TV commentator Bill McLaren. Amongst his most memorable moments were scoring the decisive try in the 3rd Lions Test against Australia in 1989, being captain of the Wales team when they won the Five Nations Championship in 1994 and scoring a memorable try against England in Cardiff in 1993 to secure Wales their only win of that campaign 10-9. He made his final appearance against Italy in 1998.