Ieuan Evans

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ieuan Evans
Personal information
Full name	Ieuan Evans
Date of birth	March 21 1964 ( 1964-03-21) (age 44)
Place of birth	Pontardulais
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight	13 st 5 lb (85 kg)
Nickname	The Mighty Atom
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Wing
National team(s)		Caps	(points)
1987–1998 1989–1997	Wales British and Irish Lions	72	(157)

Ieuan Evans (born 21 March 1964 in Pontarddulais, Wales) is a former rugby union footballer who played on the wing for Wales. He is regarded as one of the best Welsh wingers of all time, despite playing through a disappointing era of Welsh rugby.

Evans started playing rugby as a pupil at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Carmarthen. 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, 28 of them as captain, and scored 33 tries - at that time a record for Wales - as well as becoming the darling of rugby 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.

He went on three tours with the British and Irish Lions, to Australia in 1989, New Zealand in 1993 and South Africa in 1997. His four tries against the All Blacks in 1993 made him the Lions' top try scorer.

Evans was awarded the MBE for services to rugby in 1996, and announced his retirement from the game in 1999 to run his own PR marketing company. He is also a regular broadcaster. In 2007 he was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame.^[1]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Wales profile
• Ieuan Evans. bbc.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
• General Biography. ieuanevans.co.uk (2007-03-29). Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
• Cartoon of Ieuan Evans by Dorrien

v • d • e British and Irish Lions - 1993 New Zealand tour Forwards Bayfield • Burnell • Clarke • Cronin • Dooley • Galwey • Johnson • Leonard • Milne • Moore • Popplewell • Reed • Richards • Teague • Webster • Winterbottom • Wright Backs Andrew • Barnes • Carling • Clement • Cunningham • Evans • Gibbs • Guscott • Gavin Hastings (c) • Scott Hastings • Hunter • Jones • Morris • Nicol • Rory Underwood • Tony Underwood • Wallace Coach McGeechan & Best

v • d • e British and Irish Lions - 1997 South Africa tour Forwards Back • Wallace • Dallaglio • Davidson • Hill • Johnson(c) • Leonard • Miller • Quinnell • Regan • Rodber • Rowntree • Shaw • Smith • Wainwright • Weir • Williams • Wood • Young Backs Bateman • Beal • Bentley • Dawson • Evans • Healey • Howley • Jenkins • Gibbs • Greenwood • Guscott • Grayson • Stimpson • Tait • Townsend • Underwood Coach McGeechan & Telfer