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FORMER Sharks player Andrew Evans has made himself available for selection to the Zimbabwe national team — the Sables – ahead of the Rugby World Cup qualifiers to be played in France in July.
The 24-year-old towering lock joined the Goshawks camp which got underway in Cape Town, South Africa, on Monday ahead of the Zimbabwe select side’s participation in the Currie Cup First Division next month.
Evans was part of the Sharks’ 2020 Super Rugby squad and played three Currie Cup matches for the Durban franchise before sealing a lucrative move to Russian side RC CSKA Moscow last year.
However, like most South African rugby players who had made the trek to Russia at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Evans was forced to flee the country recently in the wake of the sanctions imposed on the East European nation after its invasion of Ukraine.
World Rugby, which has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, recently took steps to ban all national and club teams from international competition and to suspend Russia’s membership “until further notice”.
Evans is among a big contingent of around 60 South African players who were affected but he will look to rebuild his career after retracing his roots with Zimbabwe.
The abrasive lock was born in Zimbabwe on May 31, 1997, and schooled at Clifton College in Durban, where he captained the rugby first team in 2015.
Evans was initially selected for the KwaZulu-Natal Under-18 Rugby Academy team before gradually working his way through the Sharks age-group ranks until making his senior provincial debut for the Durban-based outfit in the 2018 Currie Cup Premier Division.
Standing 2.05m tall, Evans could prove to be a useful lineout asset for the Goshawks in the upcoming Currie Cup First Division and ultimately for the Sables during the Rugby World Cup qualifiers in France.
Andrews is one of the two additions to the expanded Sables and Goshawks announced recently.
Zimbabwe Under-20 star Brandon Marume had been added to the squad and will be released for next month’s Barthes Under-20 Trophy in Kenya before re-joining the squad.
The Goshawks are set to step up their preparations for the Currie Cup First Division with a preparatory match against Boland Cavaliers in Wellington, Western Cape, on Saturday.
The match kicks off at 11:30am.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe 7’s rugby team — the Cheetahs — recently returned from the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport training camp in South Africa where they played against the South Africa Under-23 team as they prepare for the Africa Cup and World Cup qualifiers in Uganda.
The team was supported by Cimas Medical Aid Society to make the trip a success. — ZimSportLive/ZRU.
Online Reporter