PICHOT ATTACKS SHIELDS SWITCH
ENGLAND’S recruitment of Brad Shields has dismayed World Rugby vice- chairman Agustin Pichot. The former Argentina captain has been a driving force behind attempts to reform Test eligibility criteria. Shields played for New Zealand at age-group level and started in the 2011 junior World Cup final against an England team including his new team-mates George Ford, Owen Farrell and Mako Vunipola. When a New Zealand broadcaster described the image of the back- rower Shields in England kit as a ‘sad picture’, Pichot tweeted: ‘Something is missing. We are losing something… the game is losing something…’ Shields, 27, qualifies for England because his parents were born here and Eddie Jones wasted no time in picking him once it was confirmed he would join Wasps this summer.
Meanwhile, the Lions hit back at Premiership Rugby’s ‘aggressive’ posturing last night after the league refused to shift their season to accommodate the 2021 tour to South Africa.
The Lions desperately want a full week to prepare before the first match but Premiership Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty said it would be ‘suicidal’ to move their season and that ‘it would massively damage the brand’.
That comment touched a nerve. ‘ The Lions brand is rather more significant than his, to be honest,’ said Lions board member Gareth Davies, who played on the 1980 tour.
‘ Look at the 35,000 Lions supporters in New Zealand last year and the millions who watched on TV — you toy with it at your peril. The thing that baffles me is the aggressive stance.’