New Zealand Listener - May 26, 2018

LISTENER MAY 26 2018

THIS LIFE

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T

he conventional wisdom about Hur-

ricanes captain Brad Shields’ inclusion

in the England rugby squad for next

month’s test series in South Africa

is that it’s overdue recognition and

reward for a wholehearted and unlucky

player. A dissenting view is that it

amounts to a further, worrying devaluation of the

international game.

To say that Shields, whose parents are English,

has been fast-tracked into the England set-up is to

understate the unseemly haste and disregard for the

bigger picture that has characterised this exercise.

Shields, born in Masterton, attended Taita Col-

lege in Lower Hutt. He represented New Zealand

at under-17 level and at the 2011 under-20 World

Cup alongside Beauden Barrett, Sam Cane, TJ

Perenara and Brodie Retallick. A Hurricane since

2012, Shields is widely regarded as one of our most

consistent, committed loose forwards and notably

unlucky not to have been an All Black.

Late last year, Shields announced he’d be joining

English club Wasps after the current Super Rugby

tournament. Before that announcement, according

to UK media reports, coach Steve

Hansen had sought to draft him into

the All Blacks squad for the end-

of-year European tour as an injury

replacement, but he’d declined the

invitation. (A single All Blacks appear-

ance would have disqualified him

from playing for another country.)

To my knowledge, Hansen has never

confirmed those reports.

Shields is hardly the first Kiwi

rugby player to take his talents

offshore or to make his mark in

Super Rugby before pursuing his

international ambitions elsewhere.

An obvious precedent is that of

Highlanders utility back

Brendan Laney who,

within days of arriving in Scotland in

2001, was rushed into the national

team on the basis of a Glasgow-born

grandmother. On Laney’s debut, a

lingering TV close-up revealed the

overnight Scot’s embrace of his roots

hadn’t included learning the words

of the Scottish national anthem.

Shields’ situation differs in that he’s

still contracted to New Zealand Rugby

(NZR) and will return to the Hur-

ricanes when Super Rugby resumes

after the June international window.

NZR initially indicated that Shields’

contractual situation might prevent

him from playing for England next

month. When push came to shove,

however, it was never going to

exercise the legal option: monolithic

institutions thwarting individual aspi-

rations are seldom favourably judged

in the court of public opinion.

Shields

fever

The Canes captain will

make his test debut in a

white jersey.

by Paul Thomas

SPORT

Left, overnight Scot

Brendan Laney; All Blacks

coach Steve Hansen.

Brad Shields,

above, and, at

right, in action

against the Blues

on May 11, is in the

England squad.