Team-mates, friends and the best of enemies

The ‘‘Alpha Dog’’ and his deputy are counting down the days.

Yes, there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge, but that doesn’t mean Dane Coles and Brad Shields don’t have November 10 circled on the calendar. That’s the day, fitness and selection permitting, two Hurricanes team-mates and friends will spend 80 minutes niggling each other.

Shields’ selection in the England squad to play South Africa means a few things, not least that Coles has a target to aim for, in his lengthy comeback from a knee-ligament rupture.

Coles hasn’t played since suffering the injury in the All Blacks’ win over France last November, but that hasn’t stopped him talking a good game to Shields now that they’re international rivals.

‘‘He’s been getting stuck into me the last few weeks. I think he’s taken his rehab to another level and he wants to get out there as quickly as possible,’’ Shields said.

‘‘After I called him an ‘Alpha Dog’ the other week I heard he got a bit of stick for that, so he’s coming for me.’’

By rights Coles should be captaining the Hurricanes this year. Instead the honour has fallen to Shields who, while delighted to do the job, recently said Coles remained the ‘‘Alpha Dog’’ of the squad.

The hooker won’t play Super Rugby this year, but remains a chance to be on the All Blacks’ end-of-year tour where England, and potentially Shields, will be among the foes.

Shields is at pains to point out that June’s tests in Johannesburg, Bloemfontein and Cape Town – let alone the November 10 game – are a long way off. He still has a Super title to contend for and won’t be distracted from that.

But at some point he will don the red rose of England and be required to belt out God Save the Queen. Shields qualifies to play for England through his parents and is no stranger to the anthem.

‘‘Obviously my grandparents were proper English and, it’s funny, my grandma actually sung that anthem when I was growing up and she’d whistle it all the time, so I know a fair chunk of it and we’ll just have to worry about that when it happens. At the moment it’s all guns blazing for the Hurricanes,’’ Shields said.

The blindside flanker is due to join English club Wasps at the end of the Super season.