Jones: Shields is one of us now
‘Mind-blowing’ Kiwi set for England bow
ECHRIS FOY Rugby Correspondent in Johannesburg DDIE JONES declared that Brad Shields has proved his allegiance to England after fast- tracking the Kiwi forward into the matchday squad for tomorrow’s first Test at Ellis Park.
The Wasps-bound import from the Hurricanes has been selected at the earliest opportunity, and his dedication to adapting to an alien environment was hailed by his new team- mates as ‘mind-blowing’.
Jones said: ‘He has fitted in extremely well and everyone knows he is genuine about wanting to play for England. The transition for him has been very good.
‘It is difficult when you come to a different team, particularly when you have been playing your domestic rugby in another country, but he is a good player and he will add value. He did his apprenticeship in New Zealand and is eligible through his parents.
‘He understands that he gave it his all in New Zealand and they didn’t select him. You don’t want players who carry around baggage, you want players who see opportunity and want to take it.’ This week, World Rugby vicechairman Agustin Pichot expressed his outrage about the situation, suggesting the game was ‘losing something’ with this sort of global movement of players hunting for Test caps.
Jones avoided the temptation to hit back, adding: ‘I’ve got a great comment I could use but I’ve been in enough strife, so I’ll let that through to the keeper!’
In a curious quirk, four of this England squad faced Shields in the junior 2011 World Cup final, when he was in the New Zealand Under 20 side which won the title. George Ford was one of them and he revealed that the episode swiftly came up in conversation at the start of this week.
Asked if he remembered who wore No 6 for the ‘Baby Blacks’ that day, the Leicester fly-half said: ‘Brad. He turned up on Sunday, then I had a good chat with him on Monday.
‘He’s been brilliant. I’ve been so impressed with the way he has learned everything, from top to bottom. Then he’s gone out and trained at the intensity we see him playing at every week for the Hurricanes. It’s mind-blowing in a way that hhe’s been able to pick everything up so quickly. He works as hard as he can and he’s really physical. He’ll be a great addition.’
England will go into the series opener with Nick Isiekwe making his first Test start in the second row after Joe Launchbury failed a fitness test. Kyle Sinckler was preferred to Harry Williams at tighthead prop and, as expected, Sale’s teen sensation Tom Curry was selected at openside flanker.
One of the men who missed out was Danny Cipriani. Jones suggested he had been ‘very close’ to claiming a place in the match-day 23, adding: ‘He’s done well, Danny. I’m quite impressed by his maturity and his desire to get better. There are a couple of areas of his game we’ve found since he’s been in camp that he needs to work on and he’s on the job.’ WARREN GATLAND claims English clubs will be jeopardising their players’ safety if they do not budge in the stand-off over Lions tour scheduling.
The 2021 tour of South Africa is already set to be shortened to five weeks but Gatland, who has led two tours, said: ‘I felt that last time in New Zealand my biggest concern was flying on the Monday, arriving on the Wednesday, and then playing that Saturday, By doing that, we were opening up players to the potential of injury risk.’