Except, of course, it would be an illusion, as the scene described above was Kingsholm Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
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Read MoreMax Llewellyn, the Wales centre playing on the wing for Gloucester to suit the Cherry-and-Whites’ available personnel, scored twice, while scrum-half Tomos Williams and wing Josh Hathaway had one try each.
“He wasn’t moving particularly well, so we knocked it on the head,” Gloucester boss George Skivington said. “Hopefully, it is nothing too serious.”
The same debate swirls around England’s players in France – think Jack Willis, Kyle Sinckler and Joe Marchant among others – and numerous Australians, South Africans, New Zealanders, Argentinians and Pacific islanders earning a living outside their own country.
At Kingsholm, where the crowd could be heard over the Welsh border if they shouted loud enough, it felt particularly acute and literally close to home.
Gloucester’s Max Llewellyn in action at Kingsholm Stadium (Photo: Getty)They are not being seen by aspiring Welsh youngsters on their own grounds, or competing head to head for selection, or building the kind of cohesion of which the epitome is Leinster in Ireland, to help the national team – which, if you need reminding, is on a run of 12 Test losses under head coach Warren Gatland.
On Friday night, Evans threw a gorgeous scoring pass for Quins at Newcastle on Friday night, but some observers find it maddening he is a mere back-up to first-choice Marcus Smith at the London club, playing for 20 or 30 minutes most weeks.
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Read MoreSome Welsh players end up with English clubs through dual heritage or because they preferred a certain school or university across the border.
Evans and his fellow Welsh Quins – Wyn Jones, Dillon Lewis and Leigh Halfpenny – might be paid less at home or be subject to other conditions that wouldn’t suit them.
You wouldn’t say unequivocally the “Gloucester Five” are getting a higher standard of rugby in the Premiership – but their club are certainly getting what they want from them.
“A world-class finish,” said former England wing Chris Ashton on the TV coverage – and Williams, who was Wales’s first-choice No 9 for most of the 2023 World Cup and 2024 Six Nations, is now being talked of by pundits in terms of the British & Irish Lions.
“Tommy was great again,” said Skivington of the 30-year-old Williams. “He’s just full of energy, and he really links our play up well.
“Tom is world class at that; his ability to flip the switch between the two is great. And hopefully for lots of our young lads, like [scrum-half] Caolan Englefield, his influence will rub off on them.”
The 25-year-old has seven tries in the Premiership this season, the joint-best with Bristol’s Gabriel Ibitoye.
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Read MoreOff the field, the Gloucester squad are gradually working out that when the Treorchy-born Williams says: “A’right, butt?” he means “how are you doing, old chap?”
Llewellyn said it has been “pretty quiet” since a review immediately after the autumn series when he wore the No 13 jersey in Wales’s losses to Fiji, Australia and South Africa, and he is just waiting for the Six Nations squad announcement, which is on Monday week, 13 January.
Skivington said he has a “good relationship” with Gatland and his Wales assistants Rob Howley and Alex King dating back to their Wasps days together.
Once upon a time, Gatland was in the Gloucester stands to watch the then-emerging wing Louis Rees-Zammit.
As for those he has left behind, Gloucester’s exiled Welsh are feeling the love of Kingsholm rather than home – and after all it is only 60 miles from here to the Principality Stadium.
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