{"id":565990,"date":"2025-11-12T18:31:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T18:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/565990\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T18:31:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T18:31:12","slug":"brad-shields-recounts-surreal-experience-of-facing-the-all-blacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/565990\/","title":{"rendered":"Brad Shields recounts ‘surreal’ experience of facing the All Blacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brad Shields has claimed that facing the All Blacks is the \u201cnext best thing\u201d after donning the white shirt of England against the country of his birth.<\/b><\/p>\n

The Hurricanes back-rower was born and raised in New Zealand, and spent the entirety of his professional career in the capital before signing for Wasps in England.<\/p>\n

Shields qualified for the Red Rose<\/a> through his parents and made his Test debut versus the Springboks in July 2018 before lining up against the All Blacks<\/a> later that year.<\/p>\n

There may have been mixed feelings for some but not for the 34-year-old, who relished the opportunity of taking on New Zealand.<\/p>\n

Eddie Jones \u2018quirky\u2019 preparation<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was probably one of my fondest rugby memories. I was able to play against some of my mates who I had just finished playing with in New Zealand,\u201d he told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can\u2019t play for the All Blacks, the next best thing is to play against the All Blacks. Getting a starting role was pretty surreal for me. When any team is playing the All Blacks, it\u2019s a pretty special week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember Eddie [Jones] was doing this quite quirky thing where each team we played in the end-of-year tour, you would go down to the meeting room and there were cardboard cutouts of the most targeted players in that game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Baz (Beauden Barrett), Aaron Smith and Brodie Retallick were the three that were lined up through the hallway, so you\u2019re walking past the meetings and you\u2019re seeing a nearly 7ft Brodie Retallick staring back at you.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was quite interesting but it also made you think about what was coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick Evans: England are no longer just hard to beat, I\u2019m worried for the All Blacks<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

England v All Blacks in 2025<\/p>\n

Shields will certainly be an interested observer when the two teams collide at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham this weekend.<\/p>\n

New Zealand will be looking to take the next step on their way to a Grand Slam, while England will be hoping to make it 10 successive victories.<\/p>\n

The hosts are led by head honcho Steve Borthwick, who was the forwards coach for the Red Rose when Shields was part of the English set-up.<\/p>\n

Being a former lock, he likes to have the fundamentals in place, such as set-piece, defence and the aerial game, but they have also shown a willingness to be a bit more expansive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey would be silly not to explore both styles of game,\u201d Shields said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one game that comes to mind is that South Africa game in Wellington where physically South Africa dominated the All Blacks and it\u2019s something I think England have got a fair idea of how they could impose themselves in that sense as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cSteve Borthwick is a tight forward at heart, so when you\u2019re a head coach I don\u2019t think you lose that sort of mindset.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know being in that environment with him, he\u2019s real particular about how he wants to play around the set-piece and the physical battle.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut also the niggle off the ball and how you get into other teams\u2019 minds. I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if there are a few fireworks and a bit of handbag stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: England team: Five takeaways as Steve Borthwick \u2018brings out his big guns\u2019 amid Pom Squad \u2018flex\u2019<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brad Shields has claimed that facing the All Blacks is the \u201cnext best thing\u201d after donning the white…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[393,225,90462,704,12,4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-565990","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-england","9":"tag-home-page","10":"tag-internationals","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-rugby","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}