[8] Bevan displayed good form and threw a pass to his captain, Lin Thomas, who kicked the dropped goal from the only dry spot on the ground and won the game for the 22nd Battalion, 4–0.

Bevan's career, indeed, is one of the starkest examples of some of the gross stupidities, even injustices, New Zealand rugby created for itself by trying for too long to fit in with the colour bar, later formalised as apartheid, being enforced in South Africa.

Bevan should have been the All Blacks' number one halfback on the tour of South Africa in 1949, but an inadvertent reference to his trace of Māori ancestry a year or two beforehand meant he was ruled ineligible to be selected".

[5] Bevan was a member of the 1953–54 New Zealand rugby union tour of the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and North America and played capably enough during his 16 appearances.

[14] Alex McDonald had originally been impressed by Bevan's strength, quickness, length of pass and hard-nosed application and was part of the selection panel that sent him to Australia as an All Black in 1947.

[16]: 40  Ron Elvidge called for a pass from Bevan down the blindside which he received and away went the All Black captain on an irresistible dash for the corner past at least three defenders.

In the third test against the Lions at Athletic Park in Wellington on 1 July 1950, Bevan played behind an All Black pack of six, which was shredded by injury and the no-replacement law of the day.

[9] The match provided the stirring spectacle of the six All Black forwards battling against eight, and a team of 13 physically effective players gaining the mastery of 15.

[16]: 55  Bevan scolded, spurred and cajoled the pack and showed a perception of pressure points, breadth and alacrity of clearance and physical toughness that were telling factors in transforming a mission impossible into a day of glory for New Zealand rugby.

[16]: 54  Later in the match Richard White led a good movement and the Lion's line was close at hand when Bevan ran from a scrum, only to be swamped.

Bevan based his passing game on his swiftness to retrieve ball hooked at high velocity and on a swivelling dive-pass that foiled marauders and spoilers.

[9] He was quick to respond to physical affront, real or imagined, and employed a devastating hip-throw that felled and humiliated many unsuspecting locks and props steamrolling with belligerent intent through the lineout.

[9] Bevan had an innate rugby sense and once saved a Ranfurly Shield match for Wellington by potting a goal from the base of the scrum about twenty five metres out.

[1] Māori players who may have made the All Blacks tour of South Africa also included Nau Cherrington, Ron Bryers, Ben Couch and Johnny Smith.

[26] Together with George Nēpia and Manahi Nitama Paewai,[25] Bevan was a member of a fifty person deputation that met with Prime Minister Walter Nash and the leader of the Opposition, Jack Marshall,[27] calling for the cancellation of the tour.

[25] This protest, which took place on 26 February 1960, had been led by the Association's chairman, Dr Rolland O'Regan,[25] but it did not succeed; the 1960 tour went ahead as planned.