Alec Evans (born 1939) is an Australian former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

footballer and coach. Known as Alex Evans in the United Kingdom, he coached

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

at the

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup (), was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in ...

. He was assistant coach of

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on the 1984 Grand Slam tour. Evans was a representative player for

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

for more than a decade, and the Alec Evans Medal is now awarded annually for the

Queensland Premier Rugby Queensland Premier Rugby is a semi professional club rugby union competition in Queensland, Australia. Nine clubs play in the competition, eight clubs are from Brisbane, and one club is from Gold Coast.The premiership has been contested in i ...

player of the year.

Playing career

Evans played for

over 11 consecutive seasons from 1959 to 1969, including as captain, and in 1973 at the age of 34. Going from Souths first grade into the Queensland line-up in 1959 at age 20, Evans played a total of 62 games for his State. This record was unsurpassed until Queensland started playing teams from outside of Australia on a regular basis. He won

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...

selection when picked to tour New Zealand in 1962, but contracted glandular fever and did not get to play a game. A tough and loyal player, Evans left the field with a dislocated shoulder in the 1965 match against South Africa in Brisbane, only to return to finish it moments later with his arm strapped to his side.

Coaching

On retiring from playing, he became a coach of international renown. As a coach he was credited as being the unsung hero of the 1984 Grand Slam Wallabies tour of the UK, the first Wallabies side to return with victories over all four home nations. Evans, although having a Welsh name, later became the first non-Welshman to coach

. While head coach at

Cardiff RFC Cardiff Rugby Football Club () is a rugby union club based in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The club was founded in 1876Parry-Jones (1989), pg 59 and played their first few matches at Sophia Gardens, shortly after which relocating to Ca ...

, Evans was appointed caretaker coach of Wales in 1995 following the departure of

Alan Davies Alan Roger Davies (; ; born 6 March 1966) is an English stand-up comedian, writer, actor and TV presenter. He is known for his portrayal of the title role in the BBC mystery drama series ''Jonathan Creek'' (1997–2016) and as the only permanen ...

, but he couldn't avoid the elimination of Wales at the 1st round of the

finals. Following his coaching days at Cardiff RFC, Evans coached Gordon RFC in Sydney's Shute Shield before joining the

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team based in Brisbane for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union ...

as Scrum Technical Advisor. In 2007, he joined the

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

coaching team as technical advisor in preparation for their 2007 Rugby World Cup campaign. He coached three Queensland clubs to Hospital Cup premierships ( Wests, Souths,

Gold Coast Breakers The Bond University Rugby Club is an Australian rugby union football club that competes in the Queensland Premier Rugby competition. The club is based at the Bond University campus on Queensland's Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast. Bond Univer ...

), as well as being in constant demand as a mentor for any number of school and club sides. Evans finished his career as an assistant coach to Queensland's

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

winning team of 2011.

Legacy

In 2010, Evans was honoured with a Queensland Service to Sport Award for the invaluable contribution he has made to the game of rugby. The Alec Evans Medal is awarded annually for Queensland's Premier Rugby player of the year.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Alec Australian rugby union players Australian rugby union coaches Wales national rugby union team coaches Living people 1939 births Rugby union players from Brisbane Souths Rugby players Australia international rugby union players Queensland rugby union team players 20th-century Australian sportsmen