Connect with us

Columnists

New Zealand are hypocrites for their fuss over Brad Shields

Pacific Islanders and their occasional route into New Zealand rugby…

(Photo: Getty Images)
By
IF there’s one nation that England should not take any lectures from when it comes to adopting players from other countries it is . The froth of Kiwi indignation at the decision by the captain Brad Shields to declare for England is laughable, especially as nobody twisted his arm.
Both Shields parents are English, and have returned from NZ to live in England, so there are no questions about his immediate eligibility under regulations. In addition, he is joining an English club, , next season.
However, it didn’t take long for the New Zealand media to brand England as poachers. Meanwhile, New Zealand Rugby questioned why the were not producing enough Test standard back row forwards of their own – while also suggesting, wrongly, that they had primacy of contract and could prevent Shields from joining the England tour party to South Africa.
The question New Zealand Rugby should answer is this: are the struggling so much to find back row forwards that they have to raid Tonga for their latest star, Vaea Fifita?
Or what about wings, with Waisake Naholo ‘captured’ from ? Both were adopted by New Zealand via school sports scholarships when they were 18 – the standard Kiwi method of cherry-picking Pacific Island talent.
My hunch is that the NZ Union did not want to lose Shields because he is versatile, a leader, and should have been capped at blindside ahead of Liam Squire, as well as providing No.8 cover for Kieran Read.
The All Blacks don’t make too many selection blunders, but Shields is the one that got away – and what really sticks in their craw is that England are the beneficiaries.

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

 

Tackle the News

- Sign Up for our weekly Rugby Newsletter
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Your subscription has been successful.

The Rugby Paper

Stadium Solutions

Arg v SA

Collinson Tensile

Taurus TapeLifting Giants

One Year To Go

Stadium Solutions

The best betting sites

Globusbet

£10 MINIMUM DEPOSIT CASINOSonline-casinos-nz-banner

Betzillion UKGGBet

free bets

More in Columnists