Shields ‘nervous’ as six-year wait finally ends

Brad Shields is feeling more nervous ahead of his 105th game for the Hurricanes than he did his first.

Shields will lead the Hurricanes on to Central Energy Trust Arena in Palmerston North tonight for their round-five match against the Melbourne Rebels, six years after his last Super Rugby Pacific appearance.

Following a six-year stint in Europe, it was announced in January that Shields would captain the Hurricanes, succeeding Ardie Savea. Shields won a Super Rugby title with the Hurricanes in 2016.

But the former England international’s comeback campaign got off to a false start when he suffered a foot injury during pre-season training, which kept him out of the first four rounds of the competition.

“It was the first week back from the Christmas break, towards the end of the week,” Shields explained. “I had a niggly foot for a while and it was the best it had felt, but I tore a bit of plantar fascia under my foot and it wasn’t quite healing right.

“We did a CT scan and realised there was a little fracture on the bone spur of my foot.

“It took a little longer than I would have hoped as I was pretty keen to get back out there a few weeks ago, but it’s all good now.”

The unbeaten Hurricanes have been trucking along just fine without their captain and big off-season signing, toppling the Western Force, Queensland Reds, Blues and Crusaders to emerge as the early frontrunners.

But that might explain why Shields is feeling pressure to perform against the Rebels.

Even though he is the skipper, a regular starting spot is not guaranteed.

“I’m pretty excited but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous.

“It’s not an easy task to sit out and come back into a team that has been doing really, really well, so there’s an expectation I have for myself to do the exact same.”

Shields will lead an almost unrecognisable team from the one that beat the Crusaders in Christchurch last week.

Only prop Tyrel Lomax and loose forward Devan Flanders have been retained in the starting lineup, with coach Clark Laidlaw opting to rest a host of his regulars.

Asafo Aumua, James Tucker, Brayden Iose and Josh Moorby drop to the bench while Xavier Numia, Isaia Walker-Leawere, Peter Lakai, Cam Roigard, Brett Cameron, Kini Naholo, Billy Proctor and the injured Ruben Love won’t feature at all.

But it is a testament to their depth that the Hurricanes can rest so many stars and are still able to bring three centurions, Shields, TJ Perenara and Jordie Barrett, into the starting team.

“I’m pretty excited but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous.’’

Brad Shields, above