SHIELDS’ SMOOTH TRANSITION THRILLS JONES
ENGLAND head coach Eddie Jones has defended fast-tracking Kiwi forward Brad Shields into his match-day squad for the first Test against the Springboks tomorrow. Shields qualifies for England through his parents and has been selected at the earliest opportunity by Jones after his 8,000-mile trek from Wellington to join the squad in South Africa last weekend. The 27-year-old’s decision to abandon the pursuit of an All Black cap was met by anger and indignation within Kiwi rugby circles. World Rugby vice-chairman Agustin Pichot also expressed his outrage about the situation, suggesting the game was ‘losing something’ with this sort of global movement of players hunting for Test caps. However, Jones avoided the temptation to hit back, saying: ‘I’ve got a great comment I could use but I’ve been in enough strife, so I’ll let that through to the ‘keeper!’ Shields (right) is set to join Wasps from Hurricanes after the tour and Jones insisted he was taking everything in his stride. ‘He has fitted in extremely well and everyone knows he is genuine about wanting to play for England,’ he continued. ‘The transition for him has been very good. He was undoubtedly nervous. It is difficult when you come to a different team, particularly when you have been playing your domestic rugby in another country, but he is a good player and he will add value. ‘He did his apprenticeship in New Zealand and is obviously eligible through his parents. ‘He understands that he gave it his all in New Zealand and they didn’t select him.’ In a curious quirk, four of this England squad faced Shields back in 2011, in the junior World Cup Final, when he was in the New Zealand Under-20 side which won the title. George Ford was one of them and he revealed that the episode swiftly came up in conversation at the start of this week. Asked if he remembered who wore No 6 for the ‘Baby Blacks’ that day, the Leicester fly-half said: ‘Brad. He turned up on Sunday, then I had a good chat with him on Monday. He actually said: “Were you part of that 2011 team?”. ‘I said: “Yeah, yeah”, and we were just checking whether we did actually play against each other because it’s a long time ago now.’