Ace Evans may quit Harlequins year early

CHRIS Ashton scored his fifth try in four games as Saracens hammered Harlequins at Wembley in what could turn out to be one of Nick Evans’ last games for the club.

Schalk Brits, Michael Rhodes and Alex Goode scored the others for the defending champions in a 40-19 triumph in front of a crowd of 71,324 at Wembley.

Quins fly-half Evans, who opened the scoring with the first of four penalties, admits he may call time on his playing career this summer after an injury-hit campaign.

Evans reached the landmark of 150 Premiership matches against Saracens yesterday, but before that the 36-year-old New Zealander had managed just 565 minutes in 12 appearances this season after suffering a variety of ailments.

A class act at his best, Evans has another year on his contract, but he told

The Rugby Paper: “It’s been a frustrating campaign and it (retirement) is an option. I’ve got one more year but when you get to my age you have to weigh-up lots of things.

“After the last couple of years, I have to ask whether I’m still living up to my expectations on what I can provide for the club. If I still believe I can, I’ll keep going.

“I’ve had 16 good years at the top and feel I’ve still got a lot to offer, but I’ve got a

few decisions to make, which I’ll do at the end of the season.”

Evans, who is cutting his coaching teeth at National Three London & SE promotion hopefuls Wimbledon, added: “Coaching is an option at some stage. I’ve loved what I’m doing at Wimbledon this year and it’s what I’d like to do.

“I’ve been able to craft a little bit of my coaching philosophy on to the guys down there and I’ll see where that takes me.”

Meanwhile, Evans wants Mike Brown and Danny Care to kill speculation surrounding moves away from the Stoop, but insists his long-serving Harlequins colleagues have earned the right to look at any opportunities elsewhere.

Evans said: “People have ambition and move around and that’s the world we live in. When you’ve been at a club 10 or 11 years like those guys have, who could begrudge them wanting to see something different?

“I hope they both stay but sometimes people feel they need to move on.

“That’s what I did when I left New Zealand in 2008 and I’ve loved every minute here.

“I love the ambition and what we’re trying to achieve so I’ll put pressure on Danny and Browny, but we’ll have to wait and see.”