Wales lack strength in depth but can be best in the world – Non Evans
With 87 caps her name sits alongside the likes of Gethin Jenkins, Stephen Jones, Martyn Williams and more as one of Wales’s most capped players of all time.
In a playing career that spanned three decades, Non played in three Rugby World Cups so knows a thing or two about tournament rugby, but how does she think her compatriots will fare this year?
“They have a very tough group. Australia always tend to peak for the World Cup, England are at home and Wales will have to play both of them at Twickenham” she said.
Wales’s last pool game against Australia will be their seventh game in as many weeks and they will need a strong and adaptable squad to progress out of the tournament’s ‘group of death’. “I’m surprised at Warren Gatland’s decision to drop Richard Hibbard and Mike Phillips from the squad because they are big impact players who can change a game in the last 20 mins”, said Non, right.
“They’ve got two home games at the Millennium Stadium (Uruguay and Fiji) which will help but I’ve got a bit of a bad feeling. I’m trying to be optimistic but I think this World Cup will be a lot tougher for Wales than the last one.
2015 Rugby Championship winners Australia are Non’s favourites to lift the Webb Ellis trophy on the 31st October at Twickenham Stadium: “New Zealand are brilliant. France look quite good but I’ve got a bit of feeling about Australia. They are looking good at the moment”.
What a lot of people don’t know is that Non is the only women to ever to compete in three different sports at the Commonwealth Games, having competing in judo (1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002), weight lifting (2002) and wrestling (2010). But it was former which was Non’s first love: “One day mum said ‘why don’t you take your little brother down to the local judo club in Pontarddulais?’, I didn’t even know what judo was! But from the minute I got there I loved it”.
This was the start of a long association with the sport for Swansea-born Non, “Judo was my life, I was a total utter addict!”
Non continued doing judo throughout her childhood and teens before picking up a rugby ball. “Back then women’s rugby was very small and there weren’t as many opportunities to take part for girls as there are now.
“I used to catch the bus from my village to Llanelli where the local judo club was. On the weekends there were no buses, sometimes people from my village would pass by and stop to give me a lift but often I’d have to walk all the way. It was miles! That’s how much I loved doing judo”.
Non went on to become Welsh national judo champion in the -57kg category for eight years during the 1990s.
“I think judo is such a great sport because it gives people confidence and it also give you a core strength for any other sport you want to try in the future”, Non explains.
“It teaches you discipline and respect as you have to bow and everyone listens, including naughty kids! They all respect each other. I think it’s one of the best sports in the world.
“I was visiting my old club the other day and a girl there was telling me how she was being bullied at school. However, since taking up judo it has given her the confidence and strength to not get bothered by what others think of her. Another girl said that if it wasn’t for judo she’d probably be on the street drinking and smoking”.
“I’ve got 87 caps for Wales and I am still Wales’ top try scorer but I wouldn’t have done any of that if it wasn’t for judo”
“In training they used to make us do one-on-one contact sessions and no one wanted to be my partner because of the judo I used to batter everyone! They hated it!”, laughs Non.
She found this experience crucial when she was playing full back for Wales: “It is the loneliest position on the rugby pitch and you are the last line of defence. But because I did judo I was a good tackler I saved us from conceding a lot of tries and which helped Wales win a lot of games.
“Rugby was easy for me because of my judo. I really managed to apply the mental attitude I learnt from judo to rugby as I was thriving to be the best in the world”, explains Non, who was the only Welsh player included in World Rugby’s World XV in 2003.
The potential benefits of judo to rugby players was not lost on the Welsh management as former head coach Gareth Jenkins employed former GB Olympian Neil Adams in 2006 to work with his squad. Wales Defence Coach Shaun Edwards also introduced judo related sessions during their preparations for the last World Cup.
Non’s passion for judo is typified by the fact that the only Rugby World Cup she missed during her career was because it clashed with the 2002 Commonwealth Games. She retired from judo shortly after the Games to focus her career on rugby, playing for Wales for another 8 years.
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Wales’s World Cup Fixtures:
Sun 20th Sept 14:30 vs Uruguay, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Sat 26th Sept 20:00 vs England, Twickenham Stadium, London
Thu 1st Oct 16:45 vs Fiji, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Sat 10th Oct 16:45 vs Australia, Twickenham Stadium, London
