Former Gloucester rugby star Gareth Evans takes charge of his first competitive game as head coach of Tewkesbury on Saturday.

His new club host Painswick in Counties 3 Gloucestershire North and the 32-year-old is looking forward to the challenge.

The one-time back row, who played 85 games for Gloucester, has taken over from Rory Teague, another ex-Kingsholm favourite, and is hoping to build on the good work of the previous campaign when they finished just outside the promotion places.

A place in Counties 2 Gloucestershire North is definitely the target and Evans said: “Looking at the squad and their results last season, I think they should be playing at a higher level.

“Especially in the backline, there’s so much firepower, but so much is down to availability.”

That free-scoring backline is one of the things that attracted Evans to Tewkesbury.

“They like to throw the ball about, I like that,” he said.

He also likes the look of some of the younger players at the club.

“The strength of the juniors is very exciting,” he continued. “Especially in the Colts age group, it’s a strong age group and that bodes well for the future.”

It certainly does and Evans, who was part of Gloucester’s European Challenge Cup-winning team back in 2015, says he is in it for the long haul.

He lives in Sandhurst, which is 10 miles south of Tewkesbury, and he said: “I’m happy to stick around for as long as they want me.

“I want to be at a club where I can get involved and enjoy being part of it.

“My ambition is to achieve what the club wants to achieve, I think the guys at the club deserve to be a level or two higher.”

This is the second time that Evans, who is training to be a financial adviser, has taken on the role of head coach although this will be the first time he will be truly hands-on.

“I was head coach at Cheltenham Saracens in 2018 and 2019,” he said. “But because of my playing commitments with Gloucester I saw them play only twice in 18 months.”

It will be very different this time around which will help enormously, of course, as will the fact that he is taking over from Teague, who left the club to take a job at a school in Ipswich.

“Rory is a top, top coach,” said Evans. “He has put a lot of structures and tactics in place.

“I’m not looking to rewrite the playbook at this stage, I’ve told the guys that what it boils down to is that rugby is a very simple game.

“I see my benefit being able to work with individual players and helping them to improve their skills.”  

This is Evans’ first job in rugby since being forced to retire from the game with concussion in 2021.

He’d just joined Leicester Tigers after spending two years at Ospreys and he admits that it was tough when time was called on his playing career.

“There was Covid as well, it knocked my love for the game a bit,” he said. “It took a bit of time for those feelings to pass.”

But pass they did.

“I was figuring out where my headspace was with rugby,” he continued. “Growing up, I was always in and around rugby at Wootton Bassett, my parents spent a lot of time there.

“I was there every Sunday morning, it was nice to be part of a community.”

Now he’s part of the Tewkesbury rugby community and he’s enjoying every minute.

“I’d never been to the club before,” he said. “I’ve been to most clubs in the area and was surprised that Tewkesbury wasn’t one of them.”

Fortunately, he liked what he saw.

“It’s a great set-up,” he said. “The clubhouse, the facilities; it’s great to be here.”

And the Tewkesbury job was the only one that he went for.

“Once I decided I wanted to get involved in rugby again, I looked around to see what was available,” he explained. “I saw Tewkesbury were looking for a head coach… the stars aligned!”