Shields sacrifices stag do for England
Somewhere in a cold, dark basement in New Zealand, there is a life-sized cardboard cut-out of Brad Shields covered in stale beer and permanent marker pen.
It has been stored away as a souvenir from his stag do which, rather inconveniently, was organised for the same day he made his England debut in South Africa.
“My mates blame Eddie that I wasn’t at my own stag do,” chuckles Shields. “I didn’t expect to be considered for the June tour so they planned a weekend up in Auckland, but then it all happened.
“Next thing I know, I’m off to South Africa, but my mates didn’t want to cancel the trip. They went ahead without me and took along this cardboard cut-out instead. They chucked all sorts on it.”
Shields was toasted from afar as he lined up in the unfamiliar white jersey against the Springboks.
“Our game was at 4am NZ time, and the guys had been drinking all day,” he adds. “At fulltime, I checked my phone and I’d been sent a Snapchat of them watching the match: one guy was awake but the rest were in some sort of coma. It looked like they had a pretty good time without me.”
In the space of 12 months, Shields married his partner Louise and had a daughter, Charley. Life has moved quickly. He has switched clubs, switched countries and moved 18,000km across the world.
The final shipment of belongings has been delayed but it is starting to feel like home. An adopted French bulldog, Annie, is the newest addition to the family in Leamington Spa.
“We left our old dog with Lou’s parents in Nelson,” says Shields. “It all still feels quite surreal.”
While his family get to grips with their new surroundings, Shields is in line to make his first England appearance at Twickenham next month. He
gave up a potential All Blacks career and pledged his allegiance to England — qualifying through his parents.
Eddie Jones is desperately looking for World Cup certs and Shields, 27, will compete with Cumbria-born Mark Wilson and South Africa-born Michael Rhodes for England’s No 6 jersey.
Wilson has been the league’s standout performer but Shields arrives as the mystery package — having played just three games for Wasps after breaking his jaw on his debut last month.
“A broken face wasn’t the perfect start,” he says. “My cheekbone cracked and moved along a bit, so they basically had to pull it back into place and screw it.
“They put a plate on my eyebrow and another one in my cheekbone through the inside of my mouth. Two titanium plates and a couple of screws. It’s fine now and I’m good to go. I’m not Wolverine just yet.”
Shields’s switch in allegiance has split opinion in the rugby world. “It’s funny where your path takes you. I had this option and I’m pretty lucky that Eddie’s given me an opportunity to take my skill to the next level,” Shields said.
“There will always be people who disagree. I came over to push my case for international rugby so I guess that’s been justified. Now I need to keep putting my hand up.”