Although plying her trade in England, full-back Non Evans is a true star of the women’s rugby in Wales. She talks to www.rucked.com
So, how was the weekend?
You saw the result I assume?
Afraid so…
To be honest the result [55-0 to England] doesn’t reflect the game, it was not that bad. After 20 to 25 minutes it was still 0-0, but then got a few consecutive tries which took us. The ref spoilt the game, we had a female ref – they seem to have a thing about having them – but to be honest she wasn’t up to standard. We conceded four or five tries because of her blunders…
Seems a bit harsh, was she really that bad?
Yeah, they were crossing in midfield, coming in at the side of rucks – even England were saying how bad she was. At one point I was lying on the wrong side of a ruck and I just picked up the ball and ran with it. If you can’t manage the contact area how can you play? It was shambolic. I don’t know why we can’t have top-class referees in the women’s game and also unbiased touch judges – we had two English touch judges last week and this weekend we’ve got two Welsh ones against Scotland.
We wouldn’t have won the game either way, but 25-0 would have been a fairer reflection of the game. There were some positives we can take though…
Such as?
The lineouts were good, our scrums were not so good. In patches we defended well and we made some clean breaks in the backline. If we win good set-piece ball against Scotland our backs look sharp.
You’ve got a new coach, when did you know the previous one had left?
We had a training session after Christmas and he wasn’t there. Then at the next we were told he’d left. We’ve got a new backs’ coach now and the forwards’ coach has taken over. The previous coach wasn’t a bad coach, we had some of our best-ever results under him but everybody has just pulled together and got on with. I’ve got to admit, it’s bit unsettling him leaving, but it still wouldn’t have changed last weekend’s result.
Is the gap between England and Wales that big?
Yeah, they’ve got a pool of players 100 times more than us – our pool of players is small, whereas they’ve got thousands to choose from. It’s the same for the men’s game, that’s why we go hysterical when we beat them – because we’re such a small nation. I think we’ll struggle for years to come because our structure isn’t strong enough. Against the English, they were stronger, fitter and more skillful than us – everything was better. There were about five of us who could compete in individual duels but that’s about it. We don’t have the strength-in-depth…
Did you catch the men’s game?
I watched it all on Sunday because we played the same day. You don’t worry too much about the men though, you just concentrate on your own rugby.
It was a good result though?
Oh yes, great result. I think Wales can go quite far this year because it’s a very open Six Nations and we’ve got three home games. Although I do think one of the reasons is because the other nations are quite poor – Scotland are abysmal, Ireland aren’t much better, you never know what you’re going to get with France and we’ve already beaten England.
What are your own targets?
To win the three home games. Scotland had a heavy defeat to France [43-15] last weekend so we have to target a win this week. Italy at home we should win, we’ve never Lost to Ireland away – that will be our most difficult to win – and France we beat at home two seasons ago. If we get three wins on the bounce we could finish second.
Is women’s rugby getting better?
I’ve been playing for ten years and every year it gets tougher and tougher. Plus our structure is now part of the men’s Six Nations so we go the press conferences, we’ve got academies, specialised training. It’s a shame I’m not ten years younger because it’s going to be amazing in ten years’ time.
What’s the reaction to women’s rugby in Wales?
We don’t get much coverage, although our home games get covered by Scrum V. Last weekend [when they played in England] nothing was shown but the result. This week we did have a press conference on Tuesday with Warren Gatland – the men, the under-20s and our side were announced all at the same time which was good. Now we’re integrated into the WRU we get a lot more support. Nigel Davies has been showing more of an interest and offering input to our coaching sessions and I spoke to the elite performance director Graeme Maw recently and he’s talking about changing our structures around which is really good too.
If you had to bet on the men or women to finish higher who would it be?
I think the men are looking good and they’ve got three games the same as us. I think we’ll finish third or second, the men are looking good to finish second or maybe even higher. As they’ve beaten England, I’d have to bet on the men…
Wales host Scotland at Taff Wells, k/o 1pm. For details visit www.wru.co.uk