Cardiff Blues centre Gavin Evans has signed a two year contract extension with the Welsh region, who will welcome the midfield boost following the injury to Jamie Roberts and the departure of Gavin Henson.

Evans signed with the Blues from the Scarlets at the end of the 2008/09 season after appearing over 75 times for the West Wales region since making his debut in 2003. He has since gone on to make 41 appearances for the Blues.

Speaking of his decision to extend his contract with the Blues, Evans said: "It's been a real positive season for me personally. For the first two seasons I didn't play that much rugby but coming into this season, it was my last year of the contract, I've been fortunate to show what I can do."

"I enjoy the style of play we have at the Blues and the coaches are easy to talk to. We lost a lot of players to the World Cup at the start of the season but that gave an opportunity for me and a lot of the youngsters to shine.

"I know we have lost a couple of big names for next season but hopefully that will bring us closer and hopefully we can put in some good performances next year," he added.

Cardiff Blues backline coach Gareth Baber commented: "I think that we have a young backline and Gavin still has a lot of good years ahead of him as a player. He's found it tough over the last couple of seasons with a class act like Casey coming in but what Gav has done is be totally professional and kept training and pushing hard.

"He's got a great skill level, he's a great reader of the game and a great communicator as well. He's the sort of person with the right skillset, the right work ethic and the right attitude that we want in this environment," he added.