In an  a earlier article  I covered Mark's comments on the important West Stand plans -  That topic took up much of our allotted time, however I did also get a chance to raise some other topics:.

Coach or CEO?

It's nearly year since Evans set an expiry date on his combined CEO/Head Coach roles, back in March, when he told CAW   "I always said I'd do it for two years" 

Well, two years is up and I asked "Are you out looking in the marketplace now -  or should we expect a promotion from within?"  But he wasn't  rising to that bait.

"I don't know what will happen", he said, "You may have noticed the there's a lot of turbulence in the market for coaches for the Premiership at the moment - and I'm not going to add to that now. We'll have to see what happens. Anyway, at the moment I'm enjoying it."

I asked Mark if he'd enjoy managing or coaching  a National side one day?  "I don't think I'd ever be offered, it", he said "I'm, what, 44 now? I don't think there's much chance"  I observed that Bill Beaumont had just landed a role of manager of Lions at a considerably more advanced age -  so perhaps there was still hope? but Mark wasn't to be drawn.

Just a few days after that, of course, Mark Evans' name was linked in the Western Mail to the soon-to-be-vacant role of Wales coach. To most observers this seemed an unlikely story, and sure enough the rumour was taken up by no other papers and lasted only about a day in the press.  It only lasted four days even on the message-board.....before it was rather mischievously stoked up again by none other than ME himself in his interview on Sky Sports. His twice repeated 'no comment', when a simple 'no' would have sufficed did,  I have to say - worry me!

But, I'd be surprised, though, if any move was imminent - in the first instance the timing is all wrong: by temperament I'd say Evans is a 'stayer' his long years at Sarries shows that. The Quins environment has suited him from the start, and I can't see anything that would drive him away right now, on the brink of the new development, with good on-field prospects, and only mid-way through the five-years that he'd always set himself. 

Added to that: the job's all wrong.  Evans, a natural CEO and plenipotentiary has landed on his feet with the Club's hands-off owners.  It's hard to see why he'd swap all this for the politically-charged intrigue and back-room deals of Wales.

Besides, it's not exactly a now-or-never opportunity - he can afford to wait two or three seasons, and apply when the job comes up again :-)

European Rugby

One thing that's bothered me this season, is the Heineken Cup  - or precisely us not being in it.   Hoping for a hot tip, I asked Mark who he fancied to win the Tournament this season " I think the best team in Europe at the moment  is Toulouse... but having said I think this might be Munster's year"

I asked how important it was for Quins to qualify for next season, but he was surprisingly  relaxed:

"It's a reward, isn't it? If we have a good a season, we'll have a route into the HC. We don't budget for it, although financially there is an advantage - It's just one of those things that will come if we continue to improve our league position It's a stepping stone to where you want to be".   I wondered if HC qualification helped to attract and retain players?  "It can help with players...but I don't think we'll be losing many this year, so I doubt we'll be looking to attract very many - one or two perhaps"

Players

In my view 2003/4 will be remembered as the season where the Club's youth and recruitment policies really bore fruit, and our young players started to come through. I asked whether there were any hiring decisions of which Mark was particularly proud. At first he was loath to pick anyone out "it's a been a long time since we hired a dud..." but when pushed, he mentioned a couple of risks that had paid off: first Simon Keogh  "we hired him based on gut instinct, basically, and he's done terribly well"    What's his best position, I wondered?  "Oh, it doesn't matter where you play him - he's such a natural rugby player he's good in any position" and then Ceri Jones "That was luck: we'd never really seen him play, we hired him on recommendation, and he's done terrifically since he got here".

Message board

Sometimes of course even the best players will go through a bad patch, and when this happens the CAW message boarders are always ready to point it out. 

I asked Mark whether he ever felt players got an unfairly rough ride on the boards?

"No. It goes with the territory. I don't mind it. Fans on the message boards have a different perspective and they bring great passion, and interest. But also have imperfect knowledge"

I thought perhaps the fans sometime had a clearer view - judging only on the performances they see in front of them each week?

"In a way - but how many would even see every game home and away?  200 or so - max - and even for them, it's impossible -  or I find it impossible anyway - to analyse a game properly live, you can only do it from the video. It's such a complex game.   Similarly as a fan you can't know everything that goes on on field - you don't necessarily know the game plan, the personalities, the player's job in the side"

The management team at Quins do read the boards, though, and not just the Quins' boards "Yes, we'll sometimes look at the opposition sites in the run-up to the game, it can be interesting to see what their fans are saying about certain players, or styles of play, sometimes it's revealing, sometimes you just know it's wrong.  In the end some players are going crowd pleasers, like Ugo for instance: young dynamic, fast, scores tries.  Others are always going to be less visible - no one in the crowd is going to spend an entire 80 minutes watching, say, a lock  - and why should they?"

And finally....

An unexpected (for me) success of this season has been the Natal game, when a format that I worried had become slightly tired threw up its most exciting game yet.  Isn't it about time we went down there and played them in Durban?  "We'd like to, definitely, and they've asked us to come over, and we'd certainly like to - but it's finding a date that's the problem.  June would suit them but that's the one month of down-time the players have at the moment. Perhaps July one year? but it's an awkward thing to arrange.

"Another alternative is a pre-season tour of Japan: we've looked into that a lot recently, and I wouldn't rule it out this year". 

Geezers in Japan!  

But would we make a lot of money going to Japan?

"Well, we won't be going if we don't"