Bath players owe our departing coaches a trophy finish

THE prospect of Brad Shields lining up to play for England against New Zealand is something that Steve Hansen and his All Black coaching crew of Ian Foster, Mike Cron, Scott McLeod and Grant Fox find hard to forgive.

That, at least, was the line being peddled in the New Zealand Press ahead of yesterday’s Autumn international at Twickenham. An article in the New

Zealand Herald stated that while Shields is held in high esteem by his Kiwi playing peers – who understand his pragmatic decision to seek international rugby in the land of his parents after being surplus to requirements in the land where he was born and bred – that view is not shared by the All Black coaches.

Theirs is not so much a forgiving goodwill message to Shields, wishing him luck against everybody but New Zealand, as it is a medieval excommunication. The All Black coaches believe he has earned the opprobrium reserved for someone who has gone beyond the pale – someone who has lost their sense of integrity.

The argument from the NZ inner sanctum is that after chasing an All Black cap for much of his 27 years – including playing in the 2011 New Zealand U20 World Junior Championship-winning side alongside Beauden Barrett, Brodie Retallick, Sam Cane, Codie Taylor and TJ Perenara – Shields’ decision to switch allegiance to England in the space of a few months is unacceptable.

Apparently they believe that it brings into question how much playing for the All Blacks really mattered to the Hurricanes captain if he could jettison it so quickly.

When it comes to holier-than-thou hogwash this takes first prize, and Hansen in particular should know better. For those who have forgotten, Hansen was coach of Wales for two and a half years after succeeding Graham Henry, and had no qualms about improving his coaching prospects by joining another country, or boosting his bank balance.

Hansen is fortunate that the strictures that apply to players do not extend to coaches, otherwise he would never have been allowed to join Henry as an assistant coach on his return home – or to then succeed him as New Zealand head coach.

Furthermore, Wayne Smith, the recently retired coaching doyen who was intrinsic to the All Blacks’ double World Cup-winning success, was another Kiwi who benefited from coaching abroad – in his case with Northampton.

Loyalty to a concept or cause is not divisible by your role, and yet Hansen and company are drawing a distinction between their right as coaches to dispense with the concept of allegiance when it suits them, and yet demand it in absolute terms from players.

Attack coach Foster revealed that Shields was discussed frequently in selection meetings between 2012 in 2017 but that every time there were reservations. When the call did eventually come last autumn with the All Black selectors sounding him out to captain the New Zealand midweek side against a French XV in Lyon, it was five years too late because Shields had already been approached by Wasps.

Had he accepted the NZRU invitation Shields might possibly have won a cherished first All Black cap given that later on Kieran Read was injured for the final Autumn Test against France.

However, the Hurricanes captain was candid and honest with the New Zealand coaches, informing them he was about to sign with the Premiership club and pursue his English eligibility. By comparison the All Black coaching panel took the high-handed view that being rejected is not an acceptable reason for a player to join another nation he is qualified through parentage to represent.

The curmudgeonly tone was evident in this Foster comment ahead of England and New Zealand meeting: “There will be a bit of banter afterwards but I think we have got over the stage of seeing him in a white jersey now. He’s just a loosie who plays for England…”

He added: “Everyone is going to have mixed opinions on that , so you will probably find people who are close to those players – their family maybe – who will support it, and other people who have a different view on players jumping into a national team from another country so quickly.”

The New Zealand camp has not always been so sensitive about players jumping ship, with Scotland the most popular destination. Remember John Leslie and his brother Martin – the sons of former All Black captain Andy

Leslie – who opted for Scotland in the late 1990s and were joined by so many “kilted Kiwis” that the accent in the Murrayfield changing room was more Manawatu than Morningside.

Although the Scots have since directed their recruitment policy more to South Africa, the Kiwi exchange continues in the Scotland squad of today with prop Simon Berghan born and bred in Christchurch, and Highlanders flanker John Hardie a stand-out for the Scots in the last World Cup.

New Zealand’s own policy of picking off talented teenagers from the Pacific Islands and giving them school scholarships is well documented – current All Blacks Waisake Naholo (Fiji), Ofa Tu’ungasfasi (Tonga) and Nepo Laulala (Samoa) among them.

That’s why this precious posturing by the NZ coaches about doing All Black “jersey” a disservice by throwing stones at Shields is a joke.

“Steve Hansen had no qualms about improving his coaching prospects by joining another country”