Brian Bevan - England

England

He arrived on board HMAS Australia in Britain in 1946. He had with him a letter of recommendation which was written by former Eastern Suburbs Test winger Bill Shankland. Bevan requested a trial with Leeds, which was a suggestion from Shankland, but the club decided against signing him partially due to his frail looking appearance. Shankland also recommended he try Hunslet if Leeds refused to sign him, but once again he was turned down. He decided to try his luck with Warrington. Warrington decided to give him an 'A' team trial in November in which he scored a try. The club were impressed with his first performance and decided to play him in the first team a week later. The club then decided to sign him on a permanent basis on a £300 contract. He went home for several months to discharge from military service.

In 1946–47, his first season, he scored 48 tries for the club which was 14 tries more than any other player in the league. Within four years at the club he had surpassed the club's try scoring record of 215 set by Jack Fish over thirteen seasons. On five occasions Brian Bevan was the top try scorer in England. His best season for try scoring feats was in 1952–53 when he amassed a total of 72 tries. Only Albert Rosenfeld has scored more tries in a single season in Britain. Rosenfeld holds the top two most tries in a season with 78 in 1911–12 and 80 in 1913–14. He was the 1946–47 Northern Rugby Football League season's top try-scorer with 48. The 1953–54 season saw him become the highest try scorer in the game's history when he passed the 446 tries mark set by Alf Ellaby.

In his career in Britain, Bevan scored a hat-trick of tries or more in a single game 100 times. Twice he scored seven tries in a single game for Warrington, which is still a club record. During his sixteen year career with Warrington he helped the club win the Challenge Cup twice, three RL Championships, a Lancashire Cup and six Lancashire League titles. He played his last game for Warrington on Easter Monday, 1962. He came out of semi-retirement to play for Blackpool Borough between 1962–64.

Brian Bevan played Right-Wing, i.e. number 2 in Warrington's 5-28 defeat to Wigan in the 1949–50 Lancashire Cup final at Station Road, Swinton on Saturday 4 November 1950.

He played for the British Empire XIII against New Zealand on Wednesday 23 January 1952 at Stamford Bridge, London.

In all he scored an incredible 796 tries in his career in Britain in all competitive matches (a world record for tries by a rugby player of either code), 740 of which were for Warrington, in 620 appearances (both club records). In 1961 he returned to Australia to play for an Eastern Suburbs seven-a-side competition for Keith Holman's testimonial.