Niall Evalds reveals Salford try heroics mean a quiet life – and Latvia links
NIALL Evalds may be making a big noise at the top of Super League’s try scoring charts – but they are at least giving him a quiet life at home.
And the Salford star will be having them dancing on the streets of Riga after revealing his Latvian heritage, via a chip shop in Halifax.
Evalds is sitting pretty at the top of the pile after bagging 21 tries in what could be a ‘special’ 2019 for the Red Devils as they chase a top five place.
That also made him the club’s highest ever scorer in the competition, which will keep other half Sophie Martin happy.
“I think she was more excited about it than I was,” said full-back Evalds.
“She heard I was close to the record last year, so she wanted me to break it early in this season.
“She was always telling me, ‘You’ve got to break that record.’ Now I have and this year’s been good so far.
“A lot of people predicted us to be down in the relegation dogfight and we’ve shocked a few. We’ve got the talent in the squad to do something special.”
Evalds’ form has put him in position to represent England at the end of the year as he is in the Knights’ squad – but he could easily represent Latvia.
That is down to his grandfather Janis, who fled the Baltic state during World War II and settled in Halifax, West Yorkshire, where he set up a typically British business.
“There’s not too many Latvian rugby players knocking around,” the 25-year-old added. “Latvia is where the surname Evalds comes from.
“He was called Janis but changed his name to John over here as I don’t think names like that were liked very much over here after the war.
“But he settled in the Siddal area of Halifax, where I played and my dad played, and opened up a fish and chip shop.
“He came over to flee the war in his homeland, which took some doing. I don’t even think I could run a fish and chip shop!”
Salford face Huddersfield today determined to avenge the 36-18 home loss in July and coach Ian Watson believes they owe the Giants, who surrendered 44-0 to Leeds last week, one.
He said: “We were wounded by Huddersfield last time.
“They came off the back of a big defeat against Wakefield and had the same kind of comments as came out after the Leeds game.
“Then they came to our place and turned us over – we don’t want a repeat of that. If we want to be a play-off team, we can’t be going into a game with Huddersfield like we did last time.”