Brendan Gallagher finds an intriguing cultural exchange occurring at the Stoop

Nick Evans may be on the verge of becoming a British citizen and proud UK passport holder and he has chosen to make his home in leafy Surrey but the former All Black still thinks New Zealand will retain the World Cup.
Not by much though. Evans, who sat a British “settlement exam” this summer and will swear allegiance to the Queen next summer when he receives his passport, insists English and England rugby is on the right track and believes Stuart Lancaster's team will pose a massive threat to the All Blacks in two years' time.
“The situation has definitely improved since I arrived soon after the 2007 World Cup,” says Evans who will start his sixth season with Harlequins next week.
“When I arrived it seemed to me, from the outside looking in, there was still a bit of a cliquey nature surrounding England with some guys being picked on past performances.
“That has undoubtedly changed in the last two years. There now exists a culture of selecting strictly on form and there is no hesitation in blooding a young player if he is good enough. The academies are doing a great job. There is a stack of good young players coming through.
“The brand of rugby being played by some of England's top clubs – the likes of Leicester, Gloucester and, yes, ourselves at Quins – has also improved. At elite international level, if you consistently want to challenge the top three sides, you have to score tries. You might scrape through occasionally in low scoring game through world-class goal-kicking but generally, to win with any consistency, you need the firepower to score tries as well.
“England are developing in that respect and their win over New Zealand last October was possibly the best performance I've seen from them but it won't happen overnight. Under extreme pressure there is still a tendency to revert to type which is what I believed happened when they played Wales in the final game of the Six Nations.
“It will come but of course then there will be the pressure of being the home side at a World Cup. Ask New Zealand how that feels! It will be a massive test and England will be very strong. I still think New Zealand will win though!”
By 2015 Evans, legally and de facto, will be British, a huge personal decision he took last year when considering his long-term future. From day one he's had a ball with Harlequins, now considers London his home and is in no rush to move on when he eventually hangs up his boots. Previously he had worked on a so called “sports visa” which are issued for two or three years but looking down the line to after 2016, when his Quins contract expires, Evans decided that Britain is where he wants to make his life.
“It felt right and applied to take the settlement exam. On the day some of my questions were easy – what sort of currency is used? – but others had me scratching my head a bit. Who was Henry VIII's third wife and what was the crest of arms for the Tudor family? To be honest I swatted up quite a bit, I didn't want to fail it.”

Evans has been a key figure in Harlequins' recent success story and Conor O'Shea was delighted when Evans put pen to paper again last November but that doesn't mean to say the man who lost just once in an All Black jersey will go unchallenged for the Harlequins No.10 shirt. Ben Botica, the son of Frano but English-qualified, made a huge impression at the club last season when filling in and, you would assume, is only going to get better.
“Having Ben play so well and develop so strongly had been great although if I was a bit younger – say 28 or 29 – and we were both chasing the same Test spot the dynamics might be quite a bit different,” says Evans.
“But at 33 and counting it's different. I'm more than happy to help with the nurturing process and development and hopefully be something of a role model but it's still a fine balance because I'm still very competitive and hungry for success with Quins. I want to play for them as often as possible and be part of a team that wins trophies. Happily we are basically two pretty relaxed Kiwis and get on great.
“Ben being around is an extra motivation. At 33 I have to train even harder and make sure I prepare and recover better than ever. Ben's presence will make sure I play to the very best of my ability for the rest of what remains of my first-class career. It's a win-win for both of us because by maintaining my standards he will have to go on developing and improving to further his ambitions.
“The other thing working in our favour, and this is possibly the biggest change I have seen in my five years so far with Quins, is that we have moved away from the situation when you have an A and B team. We are now one collective cohesive squad and that is something I really appreciate coming form New Zealand. It's a big part of their ethos.
“Look at the All Blacks. You take Dan Carter out or he is injured and you bring in Aaron Cruden. The dynamics of the team doesn't really change at all. Cruden get injured and you bring in Tom Taylor and again the dynamic of the team doesn't change, well perhaps a little bit, but not much. At club level we've been striving for that at Quins and I reckon we are now at a point where 90 per cent of the time we can replace somebody who is possibly perceived as a first-team starter with a young player who can come straight in and do the job of a Chris Robshaw, or a Ugo Monye, or Joe Marler.