Posted by At the start of the season I don’t think even in his wildest dreams would Matt Sherratt have thought that so many of his young charges would end up playing test rugby for Cymru over the course of 2023/24.
Of course he would have known the talent there, but the challenge of stepping up to first team senior rugby at club level was a major hurdle, never mind stepping into the test arena, yet here we are in June with Ellis Bevan and Jacob Beetham set to join Evan Lloyd, Alex Mann, Mackenzie Martin and Cam Winnett in making their international debuts since the Rugby World Cup.
It’s the former of this weekend’s debutants that I want to focus on, with Bevan preparing to run out at Twickenham in the red number nine jersey after a season where he has stepped out from the shadow of Tomos & Lloyd Williams in Blue & Black, and now prepares to do the same from Tomos’ shadow in red.
It’s been a winding road to the top for the man born in Solihull but very much raised as a Welshman, who was 1st XV captain at Bryanston School in the south-west of England, appearing for Cymru D18 via the Exiles programme before really catching the eye in the 2020 U20 Six Nations with Cymru D20 having got into Cardiff Met where he played BUCS Super Rugby.
A contract with Cardiff came along during the covid pandemic before a debut in the 2021 Rainbow Cup, but the following two years only saw intermittent first team action as the aforementioned Williams’ dominated the first team slots. It wasn’t until this season that he got an extended chance in Blue & Black, starting seven of the last nine games of the campaign following Tomos’ injury.
His improvement was noticeable with that run of games, but even then a senior Cymru call-up came as somewhat of a surprise, so what has Warren Gatland seen in him? Well, for starters, that left boot. It’s no surprise that someone who has studied at the Lloyd Williams school of box kicking has an effective kicking game, and Bevan has caused teams problems aerially this season.
Against the Springboks on Saturday that may well be an area that the men in red can target, with the opposition back three and half-backs not bringing a huge amount of height to the table, while his left boot opens up new angles on turnover ball, as we see in that final clip. And it is on turnover ball where the 24-year-old can be equally effective with ball-in-hand.
If Bevan attended the Lloyd Williams school of box kicking, then he followed that up with a stint at the Tomos Williams broken play college, where he has honed his skills impacting play away from simply the base of the breakdown or set piece.
There’s no doubt that Gatland will have taken notice of his size, around 6ft and with a good level of physicality, but with that he has a good set of hands and a sharp turn of pace, as well as a willingness to get in his possession on turnover ball and into midfield on phase play.
Looking at the final clip in particular, Cardiff ran this move on second phase a few times during the course of the season, where the fly-half switched into the scrum-half role and the scrum-half moved out into first receiver. It will take this sort of attacking innovation if Cymru want to open up the Springboks defence on Saturday.
Then with Saturday, and the summer as a whole, on the mind, a little glimpse of where Bevan can be a real point of difference for Cymru as well as Cardiff moving forward.
We know that the national team love to use the scrum-half as a key defensive component, with Gareth Davies in particular having carved out a niche as a spot blitzing nine disrupting attacks and picking off passes for fun. Bevan, with his size and strength, can take that to the next level and really get under the skin of the South African ball carriers.
Then in attack I’d love to see the scrum-half really given the license to express himself when Cymru have the ball. We know that our ball carriers are unlikely to punch major holes in the Springbok defence, but we can be smart around how we use both centres, get Sam Costelow in motion and bring Cam Winnett into the game.
That can start with Bevan being a real threat around the fringes as, as in the second clip from the clash with the Ospreys on Judgement Day, he has the power, footwork and handling skills to cause problems against big forwards. Catching them in lazy moments and then constantly keeping them on edge rather than stepping out into midfield.
It’s just a snapshot, overall, of what the Cardiff man can bring to the test level, and continue to show at the Arms Park after a solid breakthrough season. As his confidence grows with more minutes under his belt, the ability to really grab games by the scruff of the neck will follow, it just requires some patience and time investment in his game.
His apprenticeship has been a long and winding one, but Ellis Bevan is finally beginning to make his mark.
Cardiff Rugby Life 