Evans expects another early onslaught

JARROD Evans believes weathering an early storm holds the key to claiming another famous French scalp as Cardiff Blues make their first appearance in Europe’s top tier competition since 2014.

Blues came from 14 points down to topple Lyon in the pool last season on route to winning the Challenge Cup and Evans is confident the Welsh region have the mental resolve to get their campaign off to a winning start.

He said: “The momentum these French sides bring at home in the early stages of the game can catch a lot of sides by surprise but if we can ride that out we will be in the game.

“In Lyon last season we conceded from the kick-off and we conceded another try soon after to put us 14-0 down but the boys showed a lot character to come back.

“The same thing happened in Toulouse last season when they came at us really hard early on and we had to show a lot of character. We did really well to ride out that storm to win and I think we will have to do the same again.”

Evans starts at fly-half at the Stade De Gerland with Gareth Anscombe reverting to full-back while summer signing Samu Manoa is set to make his debut off the bench.

Lyon are currently third in the Top 14 and claimed a notably away win against Racing 92 last weekend.

“It’s sold out and there will be 30,000 here on Sunday,” said Evans. “French teams are always physical, especially when they get the crowd behind them. A big focus is to not get dragged into an arm wrestle and try to get into the game we want to play.

“Lyon have some experienced backs like Jean-Marc Doussain, Lionel Beauxis and Charlie Ngatai who has been on fire from fullback this season. We have to make sure we’re on the money if we are to win.”

In the back row, a recall for openside Olly Robinson means Josh Navidi switches to No.8.

Lyon have been dealt a severe blow with former Wallabies openside Liam Gill ruled out, but former All Blacks Ngatai and Rudi Wolf start behind the scrum.