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How young Blues midfielder overcame three ACL knee injuries
Corey Evans has blown his ACL three times, damaging both knees. The joy derived from mates playing rugby was part of his stubborn refusal not to quit.
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“It’s unfortunate, bro. It’s a part of sport. There are lots of people to thank for helping me stay positive; the biggest ones being my family and the physios,” Evans told RugbyPass.
“I’d get itchy feet watching my mates on the sidelines. I just had to be part of it.”
Evans is among a growing contingent of Blues players, not yet household names, delivering strong performances in Super Rugby Pacific as the team builds greater substance.
The Blues have always had plenty of ‘star power’ but in 2024 it’s performances from the likes of Laghlan McWhannell, Josh Beehre, Cole Forbes, AJ Lam, and Evans that suggest the Blues have a greater resilience.
Evans has played in two victories against Moana Pasifika (47-8) and the Force (50-3). At the halfway stage of the season, the Blues are in second place with six wins and just a solitary defeat to leaders the Hurricanes in Round 3.
“Second is a good reflection of the work that’s gone in and the game plan we’ve developed built around showcasing our strengths,” Evans said.
“My game is about taking the ball to the line, being a playmaker, distrusting when I need to or seeing miss-matches in front of me.
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“I want to be a triple threat: run, kick, and pass. Doing all those things consistently will take my game to the next level.”
Waipapakauri is a small settlement in the Far North District of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 1 at the isthmus of the Aupouri Peninsula. The larger settlement of Awanui lies to the southeast. Waipapakauri is some 12 km to the north of Kaitaia, the nearest town.
It was in Waipapakauri where Evans’ professional rugby dreams started. His ambitions gained momentum when he attended Auckland Grammar School. He spent three years in the First XV. His second season was ruined by his first ACL injury. In 2018 he captained Grammar and made the New Zealand Secondary Schools.
“I went to Grammar to get a prosperous career. I didn’t quite get there,” Evans laughed.
“My study results were somewhat short of excellence.”
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“Bro that place brought out the best in me. Everyone is competing because everyone wants to be in the top class or the top sports team. It’s not like that in Pukenui.
“My brothers Daniel and Lincoln are at Grammar. That’s huge for them. My parents Donna and Eddie are everything to me. They’ve got this Uber thing going now which means they come to all my games, and I see a lot of them which is important.”
Evans played for the New Zealand Schools in their 24-12 victory over Australia in 2018. Angus Bell, Carter Gordon, Tamiati Williams, and Josh Lord are the most prominent internationals to have emerged from that contest.
Evans was a New Zealand Under 20 selection out of the Grammar Tech club. In 2021 he debuted for Auckland in a memorable 35-24 win against Canterbury at Eden Park. Harry Plummer scored 20 points, and AJ Lam three tries.
Auckland were NPC semi-finalists in 2022 with Evans making a dozen appearances and earning a Super Rugby contact. He played 43 minutes for the Blues in an injury-ravaged season.
Auckland was frustratingly inconsistent in 2023 exiting to Canterbury in the quarter finals. Evans elevated his game to another level under the mentorship of All Black Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and All Blacks Sevens veteran Bryce Heem (22 tournaments). He played nine games and scored tries in victories over Bay of Plenty (32-30), Hawke’s Bay (41-22) and Canterbury (36-29).
“After NPC, I decided to stay away from all the other things you can do on a Saturday night, Evans said.
“A group of boys have been locked in from October to now getting fitter and stronger; making sure everything is consistent on the training field. Our results have been good, we want them to be better.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Pacific Lions, cry me a river
123 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
123 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
123 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
123 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
123 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
123 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
123 Go to commentsHo hum.
123 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
123 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
123 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
123 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
123 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
123 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
123 Go to commentsWith all the analysis and how good the all blacks were.The fundamental mistake with the ABs is that this is a test match and not an exhibition.There is no better team(country) in world rugby than the Boks that knows how to win a test match(we are post masters at this).We know our rules, we have the discipline, we tackle like beasts, we take our points and we never give up.I now have educated the ABs supporters(at least say thank you).Please stop “bitching” , accept what the outcome is and move along swiftly.
123 Go to commentsAnd they came from behind to win two big games before the final. No one can say what would have happened. Had the boks gone behind the game plan changes and the result may changes. Ifs and ands are irrelevant. The boks won. Neutral critics enjoyed the games they played. Its not a popularity contest. Get over it and move on.
123 Go to commentsI'm happy for the people of SA to get a second WC. And I mean that. I was very disappointed with this man's “stand on the hand” incident with Josh Van Der Flyer (Ireland). Ireland's downfall in the last WC was they did not rotate their first 15 as the head coach probably should have. That said, I'm happy for SA and genuinely hope it lifts the mood in their country. Ireland did beat them in the first match of the tournament. And before the trolls start trolling ….. please don't bother. Etzbeth said recently that the Irish players said after the match “see you in the final”…..this was actually wishing the SA team the best of luck in the rest, the Irish team were not dismissing the AB’s. This is what Etzbeth was implying. But he was wrong. I no longer live in Ireland. But I hope to see them lift that cup before I pass. Anyway, congratulations SA. 👍
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