Long term the most important

Somehow you have to question what was going through the canny mind of England rugby coach Eddie Jones when he named Hurricanes captain Brad Shields for the three-Test tour to South Africa.

By any stretch of the imagination, it smacks of a somewhat dodgy blurring of the boundaries as the 27-year-old Shields has yet to play in England where he will take up an appointment with Wasps in November.

The surprise selection prompted New Zealand Rugby to release a sternly-worded statement just hours before England confirmed Shields’ selection, in which the head of professional rugby, Chris Lendrum, said: “We are extremely disappointed that the RFU chose to take this unusual step in seeking this release given that Brad has not yet played rugby in England.”

Speaking to New Zealand television, Lendrum later added: “It is not a decision we would have made, Brad hasn’t yet played any rugby in the English jurisdiction. It seems highly unusual that they can’t find players within their own county to pick.”

The brassed-off Kiwi authorities have a very relevant point and advancing the argument that Shields, who was a New Zealand Under-17 representative, a member of the New Zealand Under-20 side which won the 2011 IRB Junior World Championship in Italy, and named in All Blacks training squads in 2012 and 2016 has expressed the desire to play his international rugby for England – he qualifies through his parents – surely cannot be advanced as a mitigating factor at this juncture.

But Jones, still smarting from the reversals of the past Six Nations tournament, and facing the decline of England rugby, seems to have seized on dynamic flanker Shields as a ready-made catalyst to rejuvenate England before the 2019 World Cup.

It also looks increasingly obvious that the England tour to South Africa will be used as a proving ground for an envisaged reincarnation of the game.

It is also a policy Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus – secure in a rubber-stamping of his job right through to the 2023 World Cup – could embark on. The England tour is an important aspect, but not an essential one. Neither, one would suspect, will set the Rugby Championship alight.

A pragmatic approach perhaps, but long-term health is much more important.