Evans grateful for Sherratt's Wales lifeline

Jarrod Evans' senior rugby career began at Pontypridd

Fly-half Jarrod Evans says he thought his Wales career was over before being given a lifeline in the Six Nations.

Evans, 28, had not played international rugby since 2021 after being overlooked by Wayne Pivac and Warren Gatland.

He was called up to the Six Nations squad by interim head coach Matt Sherratt and has made two replacement appearances in the defeats against Ireland and Scotland.

"I never thought I'd be back on the international stage again," said Evans.

"But you keep putting in the work and the hours in rugby and it can all change very quickly, as we've seen. I'm just pretty happy and grateful to be back out there."

Evans left Cardiff for Harlequins in 2023 when he had won eight caps and it was originally thought he was unavailable for Wales because he had fewer than 25 caps.

But there is a clause in the Professional Rugby Board's law on the 25-cap ruling, which states a player can remain eligible for Wales if he is not offered a contract by a region or is "low-balled" with a new contract offer.

Evans was available because of this and was called up by his former Cardiff coach Sherratt.

The fly-half came on the field in Murrayfield for Gareth Anscombe and helped transform the Wales attack in a much improved second half.

"Watching in the first half was a little bit difficult but when I got on the field, I enjoyed it personally," said Evans.

"We were chasing our tails so it would have been easy to fall into the trap of playing a lot of rugby against that defence.

"I thought when we had a mindset of moving the ball a little bit more, we had some success along with some tired bodies come the end of the game."

Jarrod Evans made 130 appearances for Cardiff between 2015 and 2023

Evans admits he is enjoying his reunion with Sherratt.

"I've had two stints with him and I'm grateful he called me back in," said Evans.

"The emotions initially were strange because I'd been out of the squad for such a long period.

"I was just so over the moon I could help the boys and the team in some way."

Evans plays his rugby with Marcus Smith at Harlequins and is set to face his club mate next weekend as Wales face an England side who are still within a chance of winning the Six Nations title.

"We're good mates off the field so I'll be looking forward to seeing him next week," he said.

"I'll probably speak to him before the game. We speak quite regular anyway, so I'll drop him a message."

Despite 16 successive Test defeats, Evans says the squad need to keep the belief and positivity in Welsh rugby.

"There is no reason why we can't," added Evans.

"We were one score away this weekend and similar last week. We're not a million miles off. It's important we keep believing and positive."