Mercer glad to have Shields in England armoury
BACK row prospect Zach Mercer insists he has no issues with New Zealander Brad Shields being picked for June’s tour of South Africa.
Shields’ potential selection ahead of younger home-grown candidates is viewed as a backwards step in some quarters, but former England U20s captain Mercer believes Hurricanes star Shields would fully merit a place.
Mercer, an uncapped member of England’s autumn and Six Nations squads, said: “Brad Shields captains the Hurricanes and is a very good player in Super Rugby, which is one of the best leagues in the world.
“To have him in an England shirt would definitely add a lot. He’ll be at Wasps next year so I’m sure he’ll get that England jersey sooner or later, it’s just a matter of looking forward to the competition and learning from a guy like that.
“There’s a huge competition in England’s back row. I’ll just bide my time, train hard and if my opportunity comes, I’ll try to take it.”
Shields or no Shields, Mercer believes he can add some ‘boom’ to England’s back row after his Six Nations hopes were scuppered by a chest infection which ruled him out of the Italy game, followed by a neck injury that sidelined him for eight weeks.
After making a winning return for rejuvenated Bath against Gloucester last weekend, Mercer said: “You can look at the Six Nations in two ways: there’s frustration not playing but just getting into that squad was a massive honour.
“To be 20 and working with Eddie Jones, Steve Borthwick and Paul Gustard is a huge privilege and, if I keep working hard, hopefully my cap will come.
“With Bath’s season now finished, there’s a chance to play against the Barbarians on May 27. It’s not a capped game but I’d love to put the white shirt on and if a chance came to go to South Africa after that, it would be surreal.
“I toured South Africa with my school once so to do it with the England national team would be fantastic. I’d use it as a real learning environment so all I can do is to try and get into that squad by training and playing hard.”
Mercer reveals how he has upped his physicality to meet the demands of Test rugby. He added: “I talk to Paul Gustard, England’s defence coach, a lot. He reviews all my games and I’ve been working hard on my physicality in defence to bring a bit more of a ‘boom’ aspect to the way I attack and hit people.
“Dominance in the collision is huge now and everyone’s getting bigger and stronger so you have to keep stepping up. I’ve definitely made progress on that, both through the S&C aspect as well as my mentality towards tackling.”
Meanwhile, Mercer is convinced a much brighter future lies ahead for Bath following last week’s 43-20 win at Gloucester.
He added: “Results may not have been there but confidence has always been high and we owed that performance to ourselves and the coaches.
“We’ve beaten Scarlets, Toulon, Saracens, Wasps and Gloucester this season – the capability of this Bath squad is pretty special.”