PROP Rob Evans was relieved to be back playing on Saturday following time out of the game spent recovering from a “pretty bad” head injury.

The loosehead shone with ball in hand for Wales in their 29-21 defeat to Australia in Cardiff, a match which marked his return to action after six weeks on the sidelines.

Hurt during the Scarlets’ Guinness PRO14 clash with Connacht on September 29, Evans failed to pass HIA (head injury assessment) protocols at the first time of asking.

However, his condition improved and a few weeks later the 25-year-old was given the green light to resume training.

Speaking about his rehabilitation, he said: “It has been a very frustrating time for me.

“Some days you think you’re alright and then the next thing you’ll walk to the fridge and you feel like you’re going to collapse.

“The hardest thing is that you don’t know when you’re going to get better, it’s not like a shoulder injury where it’s four to six weeks.

“I couldn’t shake this one off, it was pretty bad.

“It wasn’t a great time for me but I turned the corner a couple of weeks ago and I’m so happy to be back.

“I did a graded return. I failed the test the first time and was told a bit of exercise can help the symptoms. I went up to do the test two weeks later and I’d significantly improved.

“I was looked after really well by the Scarlets and Wales.”

He added: “It was worrying at the time but I feel fine now.”

Evans was noticeably involved a lot in the loose during Saturday’s loss to the Wallabies, and he is happy to adapt to Wales’ new-look attacking style of play.

“It was good to get a few touches of the ball,” he said.

“We’re obviously developing our new style of play and I thought we caught Australia out wide a few times but that last pass didn’t work out for us.

“We turned the ball over far too many times and you can’t do that against a good team like Australia if you’re going to win.

“We’re looking for opportunities all the time and I’m happy if I get my hands on the ball, but we just wanted to win the game really.”