The dazzling fly-half performance from a Wales player which has suddenly given Warren Gatland food for thought

Someone changed the mould in the Welsh fly-half factory when the rest of us were looking away.

The production line churning out old-style, classical Welsh fly-halves, complete with enough tricks to gain admission to the Magic Circle, was quietly shut down.

Or was it?

Anyone watching Cardiff Blues in their Guinness PRO14 clash with Glasgow on Saturday evening might be tempted to argue that the stardust machinery is still very much in working order.

For Jarrod Evans came up with a display that pretty much had it all in terms of crowd-pleasing stuff.

Jinks? Tick.

Swerves? Tick.

Sidesteps? Tick.

Kick-passes? Tick?

Shimmies? Tick.

Explosive breaks? You know the rest.

He certainly became the talk of Welsh rugby on Sunday.

It was an exceptional exhibition of attacking play that left Cardiff Blues head coach John Mulvihill in no doubt about what he had just witnessed, saying in a TV interview afterwards: “He’s a great player.

“He’s obviously going to play a lot of Test rugby in the future. He’s just really sharp, a good attacking weapon and a really good defensive player.”

There will be many who hope Mulvihill’s prediction about Evans’ future comes to pass, for he is a player who appears to have limitless potential.

At one time in Welsh rugby, a bandwagon would be rolling for the 22-year-old to be involved against England this coming weekend. Extreme romantics might have even been calling for him to leapfrog over the competition and start, perhaps not be dropped for at least a decade. That is the way it used to work.

But whatever else you call Warren Gatland, he isn’t an extreme romantic or prone to too many lurches in selection. So the probability is those who would relish seeing Evans with a red No. 10 on his back will have to bide their time.

In World Cup year, he has put down a marker, mind. And as Gatland sweats on the fitness of Dan Biggar and Rhys Patchell for England this weekend, he can't help but have noticed young Evans' wonder show at the Arms Park.

It isn’t just in one game that he has shown what he can do, either.

Evans was key to the Blues’ European Challenge Cup success last season and he impressed consistently in the Guinness PRO14, improving as the campaign went on and sharpening his game-management skills.

He shines for the Blues in a backline that is as creative as any in the league.

Against Glasgow he had Matthew Morgan as his partner in the attacking arts.

Morgan misses the odd tackle, for sure, but he remains a lethal runner and he and Evans beat 14 defenders between them.

Evans had a hand in four of his team’s five tries, while Morgan’s imprint was over many of them, too.

There was extraordinary variety to the scores. The fourth touchdown, for instance, stemmed from a clever short kick behind the defence from Evans, while he and Morgan each made breaks in the build-up to try number five, testing a tired defence, before Evans further stretched the cover with a cross-kick.

Defence cost the Blues, with 30 tackles missed, including 12 by three of their three-quarters alone, as the Welsh region succumbed 38-34, but they are an entertaining side and offer their supporters value for money, and no-one is more to the fore on that front than Evans.

Mulvihill has previously said : “Jarrod isn’t a secure, conservative type of player.

"He will roll the dice and, going forward, that’s what the Welsh backline need.”

Evans made his Wales debut when he replaced Gareth Anscombe towards the end of of the opening Autumn win against Scotland.

If the Six Nations has come too soon as a follow-up, Wales would definitely benefit from having him in their World Cup squad because he offers something different.

Maybe it will happen, maybe it won’t.

Whatever, if he keeps playing as he did on Saturday evening, his time will eventually come.

Because he has talent that deserves the Test stage.