Jarrod Evans makes case to Warren Gatland in lethal moments with Marcus Smith

The Wales fly-half has started the season strongly for Harlequins

Jarrod Evans put England star Marcus Smith over for two tries as he continued his strong opening to the season.

The Welsh fly-half has started the campaign in impressive form for Harlequins, featuring in all three of their Gallagher Premiership matches so far this season.

While they fell to defeat against Sale Sharks on Friday night, Evans still provided some moments of magic for the English club.

With injuries mounting at the Stoop, Smith started his first-ever league game for the club at full-back - a position the 2021 Lions tourist has played before for England. And in his first run-out in the 15 jersey for the club, he marked it with a 19-point haul thanks to two try assists from his Welsh team-mate.

The first saw Evans give the 35-cap England star the space to step his way through to the line, before the second saw him float a lofted pass over the defence to put Smith over in the corner.

Former England international Austin Healey questioned if the pass was forward on commentary, but the match officials saw nothing clear and obvious.

Unfortunately for Quins, the reigning Premiership champions mounted a second-half comeback to win.

However, Evans once again caught the eye. After last week's win over Newcastle, Evans' second-half cameo saw TV commentator Sam Roberts post on social media: "So I went to the Stoop yesterday and came away with a nagging thought: is Marcus Smith the best 10 at ‘Quins right now… Jarrod Evans was very, very good when he came on. Thoughts?"

The former Cardiff pivot has previously spoken in glowing terms about working alongside Smith, saying earlier this year: "With Marcus here, we're bouncing ideas off each other and hopefully making this club do well. It's been good.

"I didn't know what to expect coming here, but we get on really well on and off the field. We bounce ideas off each other, look at opposition and feedback on training. I feel that's quite a big thing here, feeding back on training."

Such performances could help Evans find his way back into the Wales fold, with his own eligibility for Test rugby now a lot clearer. Having moved to London with no intention of playing for Wales, the assumption was that the 28-year-old was captured by the 25-cap rule - given he's played just eight times for Wales.

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However, it soon became apparent that might not be the case - with the ambiguity of whether there was a loophole that made him available rumbling on for much of the year. Eventually, WalesOnline sought clarity from the Welsh Rugby Union that Evans was in fact currently eligible for selection.

However, despite that, no recall has been forthcoming so far. Getting more minutes at the Stoop was one of Evans' targets after his first season there - something he's currently achieving - but when it comes to a Wales recall, he's admitted previously he's fairly relaxed about it all.

"I don't really know how to describe it, to be honest," he said back in August. "It just summed it up, really.

"I came up here with the intention of not playing (for Wales), so it didn't affect me that much. But it was always that question in the background about what's going on.

"As far as I know, I'm eligible. I just try to control what I can control here. Whatever happens with national things is probably just a by-product of how you're playing here.

"As long as I can get a few more minutes here next season, and I'm enjoying my rugby, everything else will take care of itself."

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