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Brad Shields in line for first international test start


Brad Shields England
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Hurricanes flanker Brad Shields could make his first international start in the second test against South Africa reports The Telegraph.

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Although it won’t be in his familiar number six jersey, with Shields expected to pack down in the second row alongside Maro Itoje as Joe Launchbury battles to be match fit, missing training due to a calf injury.

“We feel with Brad and people like that we have got lock cover,” England scrum coach Neal Hatley said.

“If it comes down to that he could start. He got close to 45 minutes in the second row [in the first test] anyway.”

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Shields replaced Nick Isiekwe early in the first half as a tactical substitution, with Jones looking to steady the ship as South Africa bounced back from a 21-point deficit. Shields played his first international test as a lock, a position he hasn’t played in more than four years in Super Rugby with the Hurricanes.

“If we are going to progress with Nick we are going to need to keep giving him opportunities,” Hatley said.

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“We need to support him. We were fairly aggressive in some substitutions in Australia and it is about what is good for the team at the time, it is not an individual thing.

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Phantom 37 minutes ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



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