Back Row, Born 1979 (November 3, Crewe) -
former Moseley Colt (National Cup winner 1998), Represented England at
U16's and Midlands at U18's. Moseley Young Player of the Year 2001,
Studied Business and Leisure management at Cardiff University. Player of
the Year in 2003/4. England Counties call up, and passed 100 appearances in 2006.
Mark was again called up for the England Counties games in the USA and
Canada in 2008 after strong performances for North Midlands. Holds the
club record for the most consecutive appearances by a forward - 65 -
between Nov 2003 and Feb. 2006.
click on the image to enlarge
Mark Evans: Programme Profile
January 2008
 It is the ambition of every young colt to ultimately play for his Club’s
First XV but not all of them achieve this goal. Moseley’s track record
in this area is second to none and one of the best examples is the story
of Mark Evans’s rise from the club’s 1977 cup-winning colts to regular
first team duty. In this day and age, however, there is no room for
sentiment in player selection; every thing else has to be subject to the
vital quest for league points.
Mark Evans was born and went to school in Stoke-on-Trent, where he first
played rugby as a back row forward. In 1998 he entered the University of
Wales at Cardiff to take Sports Studies and in the same year joined
Moseley as a Colt on the introduction of Tom Campbell. He was a member
of Moseley’s outstanding U18 side that won the National Colts Cup and
marked as a future First XV player. He represented the North Midlands at
all levels between 16 and 21 and was capped by the English Counties in
seasons 2005-07. Although Mark is primarily a No.8 he is often pressed
into service by Moseley as a blind-side wing forward.
A No.8 has to be ubiquitous; tall, strong and fast, equally at home in
loose or tight play, and able to get quickly to the crunch areas. He
needs to have weight for scrummaging, to be a good extra jumper at the
back of the lineout and to be a deadly tackler. At 6ft 3inches and
weighing 16st 7lbs, Mark’s build is ideally suited to the job he has to
do.
Mark lives with his partner Claire in Bournville and teaches sport at
Fairfax School in Sutton Coldfield. He hopes to rise, in due course, to
the position of Director of Sport in a large school. He also plays golf,
when he has the time, off a very respectable 14. He prefers to read
rather than watch most TV, his interest lying mainly in political
history.
Mark’s most memorable events in his rugby career so far are winning
promotion from Division 2 in April 2005 and being awarded the Moseley
‘Player of the Year’ trophy at the end of season 2003 – 2004. I asked
him whether, in Moseley’s dark days he ever contemplated leaving us for
a club that (at the time) was better established in Division 1. Mark’s
answer was instructive; it was less about rugby per se than
unwillingness to contemplate leaving a ‘band of brothers’ who had come
to maturity together. As a result Mark has made over 130 league
appearances for the First XV.
No player’s position in the First XV is secure as Moseley seeks to hold
on to its place in Division 1. Mark is well aware of this iron rule in
all professional sport. One thing is certain however; Mark will fight to
the utmost to retain his back row shirt.
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