Ben Evans, who once captained his school side to rugby league glory at the Millennium Stadium, is looking forward to returning to the south as Wales start their World Cup preparations by taking on Jamaica in Neath on Tuesday 15th October (kick-off 7.30pm).
Alongside his twin brother Rhys and future Wales team-mate Ollie Olds, the 31-year old started his rugby league under the coaching of Kevin Ellis with his school side in Bridgend, Brynteg Comprehensive School, and in 2005, he scored a try in their 40-4 win over Castleford High in Cardiff to become the first Welsh school to ever win a British Champion Schools final trophy.
Then in 2013, he was back at the Millennium Stadium, playing for Wales in the opening day of that year’s Rugby League World Cup. Two more World Cups followed for him and Wales and now his aim is to get to the next one in Australia in 2026.
“It’ll be a massive achievement if we can make the World Cup Finals again,” he said. “We’ve got a tougher route to get there compared to previous years, but for me, it would be an amazing way to finish my playing career if we get to those finals in Australia. If I can make a fourth World Cup, I would consider that as quite an achievement.”
It’s been a long time between games for Evans in the south. The last time he played near to home was in that 2013 World Cup, which is why he’s extra keen to play against Jamaica next Tuesday.
“It was special to play at the Millennium Stadium in the first game of the 2013 World Cup against Italy as that’s where it all started for me,” he remembers. “Back in 2005, our school, Brynteg Comprehensive, reached the final of the national Champions Schools Cup and we won the game. It was the curtain raiser to the Challenge Cup Final where Hull beat Leeds. Incidentally, John Kear was coaching Hull that day and now he’s coaching me at Wales. So to play for Wales there again eight years later was something really special.
“It’s been a while since I’ve played in South Wales, I’ve not actually been home in two years. I’m actually going down a couple of days before and seeing family down there, and then I’ll be looking forward to playing in front of a home crowd with Wales again.
“I actually played my last ever rugby union match at The Gnoll when I was about 14 years old,” Evans said. “That was for Tondu RFC youth in a local cup final. We’d just moved up to Warrington for Rhys and I to join their academy but we wanted to finish what we’d started with Tondu so we came back to play in the final.
“I was there when Wales took on Cook Islands in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, but I wasn’t selected. We’d already been knocked out of the tournament so everyone who hadn’t played in the first two games were selected for this one. We nearly beat them and it was a good day and a great atmosphere, the crowd there really get behind the team.
“I’ll have my grandad, uncle and cousins all coming down. I think Ollie Olds may make an appearance too. I’ll have a few friends coming as well so it should be a good turn-out.”
Wales’ match against Jamaica is an important warm-up for the side before they take on Serbia a week later. A win there will give them a match against France or Ukraine for a place in 2025’s World Series alongside Jamaica, South Africa and Cook Islands, with the top two from that competition heading to Australia in 2026’s Rugby League World Cup.
Evans said: “France is a tough place to go, but if we play them in the final, then we’ll have already played a couple of games, this one against Jamaica, then the semi-final against Serbia, so we’ll have prepared well.
“We’ve run them close in previous competitions and, whilst I wasn’t in those sides, we have beaten them a couple of times in recent years in European Championships where we weren’t expected to win, so it can be done. I think we have a strong squad, so we just need to put our best foot forward and who knows?”
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