The salary cap is down to £5m next season and Evans, 40, says that will mean more opportunities for English-qualified players to get game time – especially at Quins.
Openside Jack Kenningham, 21, has emerged this season with a run of storming performances and Evans says there are more where he came from.
“With the drop of the salary cap, you want to get four or five home-grown players coming in looking at the long-term pathway,” says Evans. “We have Jack Kenningham, who was the next change for Chris Robshaw coming through. With Will Evans coming in and getting an unfortunate injury you have seen Jack coming in. It is the ability to give these guys a chance.
“We have got Lennox Anyanwu and Oscar Beard (centres) coming through and we see these guys coming in long term and taking the place of an Andre Esterhuizen or a Joe Marchant. You are definitely going to see a bit of trend in terms of teams having to look at these home-grown players.”
Former All Black Evans was part of Harlequins' last Premiership title win in 2012 and, with the playoffs approaching, can see parallels with the evolution of that side at the Stoop.
He said: “The teams that do well have an incredibly strong academy and going back to 2012 when we were successful it was because of a great academy system.
“Every year we had a good group and you could see the pathway coming through with the likes of Jordan Turner-Hall, Mike Brown, Robshaw and Tom Guest on the conveyor belt which was great for the English game.”
With the lack of A games and opportunities to loan players out limited, Quins youngsters have had to be content with providing opposition in training during their recent run of good form.
Evans added: “There is a hunger for these guys to play and that provides competition in the squad. In training they are testing the team that is out there putting the jersey on.”
By ADAM HATHAWAY
