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Evans ready for action with Harlequins

Wednesday 27th August 2008

Kicking on: Evans is loving his new life in England

Having turned his back on New Zealand and the Blues, Nick Evans is ready to help his new club Harlequins in their bid for Guinness Premiership glory.

Evans, capped 16 times by the All Blacks, opted not to continue his battle with Dan Carter for the coveted New Zealand number ten jersey. Instead he signed a three-year deal with Harlequins and has not looked back since.

Now with the new season all but upon us Evans took time out to reflect on his new life in London.

"It's been a really easy transition to come over here," he told Scrum.com.

"The boys have been really good.

"I think it would have been really hard if I'd come over halfway through a season. The decision to come over early was a really good one.

"The whole set-up is new to me and that's something that is really exciting, to be able to come here and play in different styles of competition."

Evans joins Harlequins at the perfect time, with the club on the up and looking to go one better than last season and make the play-offs this time around.

Despite having only been at the club for a little over two months Evans is already singing from the same hymn sheet as his team-mates.

"I think that's an expectation we should put on ourselves and something that we should not shy away from," he said of a top four finish in the league.

"We've got to set some high goals and I think a top four finish is something very doable for us.

"We have an exciting young team, and a team that has now been together for a while. This is something that I'm really excited about and something that the fans and the club as a whole should really look forward to."

The arrival of Evans will help soften the blow of losing points machine Adrian Jarvis, but the most exciting aspect of the move is the new half-back partnership.

Evans will link up with England international Danny Care, a player who has a huge future ahead of him after an outstanding season last time out.

And it hasn't taken long for Evans to see just how good Care is.

"He's an exciting player, I'm sure he'll have a lot of Tests under his belt when he finishes his career," Evans added.

"I think the combination that we can form, if we can get going really quickly and early in the season, can set our backline alight. We've got a lot of pace out wide and guys that can finish from anywhere."

Whilst Harlequins had a fine season in the league, the same can not be said of their Heineken Cup campaign - they crashed out in the pool stages.

The former Auckland and Blues fly-half was quick to point out that the lure of the Heineken Cup was a big factor in his final decision.

"I'd played in six or seven Super 14s, it was good to come over here and have a chance to play in the Heineken Cup," he said.

"It's exciting, you get big crowds, it's a big occasion on a big stage and it's a challenge I'm really looking forward to."

For as long as Evans is around there will be those who question his decision to turn his back on the All Blacks, but the player himself has no doubts.

"I don't look back with any regrets, I did what I could and I'm very proud of what I achieved in the All Black jersey," Evans said.

With the current exodus of talent from New Zealand, Evans admits he would jump at the chance to represent the All Blacks if there was a rule change permitting overseas players to do so.

"Rules could change, and next thing you know I could be back in an All Black jersey and that would be great. I'd take it with both hands," he said.

"At the moment my sole focus is Quins, for the next three years, and if the rules don't change I'll be more than happy to keep playing here."