Back in December it was announced that Wales under-20 scrum half, Ellis Bevan, had signed a senior deal with Cardiff Blues, after impressing while training with the first team squad.
Having spent four years playing age grade rugby with Bath, the Solihull-born number nine was identified by the Welsh Exiles programme and qualified through his Swansea-born father.
After picking up international honours with Wales under-18, joined Cardiff Metropolitan University, where he’s made his mark in the BUCS Super League and studied Business Management.
20 year old Bevan had previously attended Bryanston School in Dorset, with the likes of Huw Bennett, Henry Pyrgos, Ollie Devoto, Phil de Glanville, Charlie Ewells and Max Clark also amongst the alumni.
We sat down with the scrum half to find out more about his upbringing, the challenges facing him at Cardiff Blues and his aims and ambitions at the capital.
This is the first time we’ve had an opportunity to catch up with you since you signed your first contract with the club earlier this season. How have you settled into the squad?
I’m settling in really well and the boys have been really welcoming.
There’s obviously been a bit of change at the club but it’s been really good to get stuck in and get amongst everything. I’ve really enjoyed it so far.
You came in initially to train with the squad and you seemed eager to grab the opportunity with both hands and make an impression, and you must be delighted that it eventually led to a contract with Cardiff Blues?
It’s important, when you’re given an opportunity as good as the one I was given back in October, to take it and grab it with both hands.
I wanted to see what came from it, and that turned out to be positive, which I’m fortunate of.
Originally it was an opportunity that came up through the links between my director of rugby at university, Danny Milton, and the coaches up at Cardiff Blues.
A couple of months later I was lucky enough to be offered a full time place here.
You mentioned Cardiff Met there, and university rugby is becoming a prominent platform now as a breeding ground for players who develop and are identified a little bit later in their career. What has the university given to you as a player?
It allows players who haven’t been developed as early as others to still get a chance to go into the professional environment later on, once they’ve developed in their own time.
That was the case for myself. Cardiff Met offered me a full time rugby programme alongside my academics, which was really important for me.
There was also the facilities to allow me to develop the strength and conditioning side of my game while playing top level university rugby.
It helped me develop my game a lot.
With the links between the university and Cardiff Blues, as well as the fact that you had strong Welsh connections despite growing up in England, there must have been quite a few different factors that attracted you to Cardiff Met in the first place?
Definitely and it was important for me to go to university in Wales and, at the time, Cardiff Met were the only team from Wales who were competing at the highest level.
My father is Welsh, which makes me Welsh-qualified, and it was important to me to keep those roots going.
The Cardiff Blues link with the university has been one that has helped boys who have come before me, and now I’m glad that it’s led to me having this chance.
You mentioned your father there, so would it have been the red shirt of Wales for you as you were growing up?
Yes, definitely. My dad wouldn’t have it any other way!
I’ve always been Welsh-orientated when it’s come to rugby and all walks of life.
My mum would’ve liked to say differently but my dad made sure that I was tied to the Welsh system.
How important has the Welsh Exiles system been to your career?
It’s been really important and it’s been highlighted with how I’ve been tied to the Welsh system.
Without a doubt, I wouldn’t have been given the opportunities at Cardiff Met, international age grade rugby and Cardiff Blues without them.
So I’m really grateful for what the Exiles programme does, and I was with them for a number of years. It really kicks on at under-18 level and that’s been really important for me to get those representation honours.
Without them, I probably wouldn’t have been given the opportunity to train with Cardiff Blues back in October.
Who were your heroes when growing up?
It’s important to mould your own game but someone like Mike Phillips was great to watch when I was growing up.
I’m on the taller side for a scrum half, and he was likewise.
But I wouldn’t say that I model myself on anyone in particular, because I like to pick out different parts of different scrum halves’ games and mould myself into that.
I also enjoyed watching Lloyd Williams growing up as well and it’s great to be training alongside him now.
As all scrum halves are, I’d imagine you’re a pretty competitive person and that’s certainly a trait you need if you’re joining the ranks at Cardiff Blues, where there is a lot of healthy competition in that position.
Yes definitely, and it’s one of the strongest positions at the club, as you’ve seen with Lloyd playing for Wales during the autumn and Tomos coming back from injury to be part of the squad for the Six Nations.
Having two international scrum halves speaks for itself, it’s very strong. But it’s great for me because I’m young and I can learn from them.
To have their experience and be able to pick their brains is something I’ve been doing and learning from them has been great.
To have them in the environment is really important for my own development.
One of the coaches at Cardiff Met went to university with Lloyd so he’d already created that link for me.
But likewise Lewis and Tomos, they’ve all been great for me.
It was good to know Lloyd prior to joining the Blues and he’s helped me settle in really well.
He’s well respected in the camp and he, as has the other lads, has been great with me.
Having watched Lloyd while you were growing up, and also someone like Gethin Jenkins who you worked alongside for Wales under-20. Is it quite surreal for you to work with these people especially, perhaps, because you grew up in England?
I think it’s been slightly different for me because I’ve only known these players as a fan. Having grown up watching Gethin Jenkins on the field and then only recently retiring, going into coaching and having him as a defence coach for Wales under-20 is a bit surreal.
But you have to quickly flick that switch and turn it from surrealism to realising you’re there to get the job done, and he’s there to help you do that.
But because I haven’t been in the bubble or the rugby environment in Wales for all of my life I’ve known these boys from a different perspective.
Gethin has been great for me and it’s been great to see him doing well as a coach in the Wales senior system.
You’ve had one outing in Cardiff Blues colours so far, playing in the ‘A’ game against Dragons. How did you enjoy that first game?
That was back in October and was very soon after I’d started training with Cardiff Blues, but it was great to have the first outing in the colours and putting the jersey on.
It was good to play against local rivals in Dragons and do a job on them.
It was great to have some game time and prepare myself to play in the system that the Blues play in.
I enjoyed having a taste of hopefully what’s more to come.
What are your aims and targets moving forward, both in the short and long term?
In the short term I want to keep developing and make the most of the facilities and the coaches at my disposal.
I want to develop that way and, while I don’t want to look to far into the future, I hopefully want to get some game-time at PRO14 level and first team level, but that will only come with development and hard work.
In the long term it’s similar in terms of continuing to push on and develop to become an integral part of the squad.
That’s something I’m keen on and always been keen on in all the squads I’ve been a part of, whether they’re university, school level or national age grade.
Becoming an integral part of a squad shows a lot about someone’s character, and that’s something I would like to do in the future.
