Rugby Union Commentary: Burden carried by Evans: Cardiff turn on the power as they refuse to dwell on past glories and concentrate instead on rebuilding their reputation

ISTORY hangs like a lead weight around the shoulders of each new generation of Cardiff players who must address the distinctive problem of representing a hallowed institution rather than an ordinary rugby club.

The shades of triumphs past stare down from the clubhouse wall, though whether in accusation or approbation depends these days on results rather than how they are achieved. The good old days make for an introspective world and it is to Cardiff's undying credit that they have looked so far beyond it - the other side of the world, in fact - in search of a solution.

Two Heineken League wins out of two are their own recommendation of the methods of Alex Evans, the Australian accorded guru status by being brought in as paid coaching organiser at a time when the club are strapped for cash. They have been without a major sponsor since the withdrawal of Brent Walker and, to take an obvious contrast, there is certainly no sign of the sort of deal which will give another hallowed institution, Harlequins, pounds 350,000 of Whitbread's money.

All of this makes success an imperative, mere improvement from last season's last-but-one being scarcely sufficient to satisfy another imperative, the financial one, let alone a body of support for whom patience has ceased to be a virtue. On the other hand, success won with rugby in the old Cardiff tradition would do perfectly and the 37-3 trouncing of Pontypridd at the Arms Park suggested this is at least possible.

It was a curious exhibition, perfectly reflective of the pressures that have turned any number of distinguished recruits into under-achievers on arrival at the club. Fifty minutes of anxious, ill-judged and ultimately inconsequential rugby was followed by an explosion of pace, power and opportunism that brought six tries and 34 points in 18 delirious minutes.

This was a liberation. Cardiff had eked out a tryless, joyless victory at Aberavon and appeared to be heading for something similar before Mike Rayer's first try released the pressure. Rayer later added his second by taking a quick throw to himself and galloping through while Pontypridd's attention was elsewhere; Adrian Davies scored a hat-trick and Simon Hill the other try, and if Davies had kicked like he used to for Cambridge the total would have reached a half-century.

Not that Evans was satisfied; Cardiff's earlier knee-knocking sterility saw to that. Mike Hall, their captain, has represented Wales 21 times but said that he had never been as nervous as before the Aberavon match. He added that before facing Pontypridd the mood had been much more relaxed - but you would never have guessed as the antagonists embroiled themselves in each other rather than the game.

Brian Wallis issued warnings to five players - Knight, Earland, Kawulok, Collins and Bezani - in the first seven minutes, took the captains aside six minutes later and spoke to Kawulok again and Jackson towards the end. The touch-judges intervened six times and, if it was an unedifying spectacle, macho men figuratively wielding handbags is not the stuff of sendings-off.

At the same time it was reflective of the overbearing tensions of league rugby. Pontypridd finished third last season but will not do so again without stronger leadership to accompany the evident organisational ability of a gifted scrum-half, Paul John. They had their chances as long as Cardiff were still playing on their nerves but whenever the line beckoned the basic matter of giving and taking passes let them down.

This was where, in the end, Cardiff were so superior. It is too much to expect them to cast care aside, not when leagues have come to dominate everything, but if they begin to enjoy themselves and leave Evans to do the worrying they should be able to maintain what they seem to have begun. 'As a coach I feel pressure all the time, not pressure on myself but the pressure I must absorb for the players' sake,' he said afterwards. 'I have to try to think for all of them.'

If this sounds more like the talk of a nursemaid than a coach, so be it. Like it or not, that is modern, formulaic rugby, with the coach (or the coaching organiser, anyway) as king. In reality, it is Evans rather than his players on whom Cardiff are depending to restore lost glory and it would be the professional rather than the amateurs who would take the rap if it went wrong.

Even for the phlegmatic Evans, this could become desperately uncomfortable, especially given the special satisfaction the rest of the First Division derives from beating Cardiff. 'When a club like Cardiff, which is used to being top dog, is down, a lot of clubs like to kick it,' he said, acknowledging the relentless external threat.

But equally the club's predicament has been internal, self-inflicted, and this is why they asked Evans. The recent past with its bitter divisions - which culminated in last season's successive resignations of the coach, the team manager and the captain - has shown the responsibility to be too heavy for any Welshman.

Cardiff: Tries Davies 3, Rayer 2, Hill; Conversions Davies, Rayer; Penalty Davies. Pontypridd: Penalty G Jones.

Cardiff: M Rayer; S Hill, M Hall (capt), M Ring, N Walker; A Davies, A Booth; K Matthews, J Humphreys, P Sedgemore, A Rees, S Roy, P Kawulok, H Taylor, R Collins.

Pontypridd: M Back; A Thorburn, C Jones, S Lewis, G Jones; S Pritchard, P John; N Bezani (capt), J Jackson, P Knight, N Jones, M Rowley, M Rowlands, N Sanders, D Earland.

Referee: B Wallis (Cwmbran).

(Photograph omitted)