Bradley David Fenner Shields (born 2 April 1991) is a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player for

USA Perpignan Union Sportive Arlequins Perpignanais, also referred to as USA Perpignan or Perpignan, is a French professional rugby union club founded in 1933 and based in Perpignan, in the Pyrénées-Orientales department. They compete in the Top 14, Franc ...

in the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

. He played 8 times for the

England national rugby union team The England national rugby union team represents England in men's international rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. England have won the championship on 29 occasion ...

in 2018 and 2019. He previously played for in New Zealand's domestic

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in t ...

and was captain of the in the

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

competition. In November 2017 he signed with

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. T ...

Early career

Born in the town of

Masterton Masterton ( mi, Whakaoriori), a large town in the Greater Wellington Region of New Zealand, operates as the seat of the Masterton District (a territorial authority or local-government district). It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a r ...

, New Zealand, Shields attended Taita College in the suburb of

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. It is New Zealand's sixth most p ...

where he played first XV rugby and served as deputy head boy. After finishing high school, he began playing for

Petone Petone (Māori: ''Pito-one''), a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. The Māori name means "end of the sand beach". Europeans first settled in Pe ...

in Wellington's local club rugby competition while also captaining at under-20 level.

Senior career

Shields made his provincial debut aged just 19 in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. Taking advantage of injuries to established players

Rodney So'oialo Rodney So'oialo (born 3 October 1979 in Motoʻotua, Samoa) is a New Zealand rugby union player who recently played in Japan for the Honda Heat. He is now the director of rugby and head coach at Trinity College Kandy, Sri Lanka. Previously, he h ...

and Serge Lilo, he played in a 52–23 victory away to . That was to be his only appearance during the season, however the following year, he became much more of a regular, featuring 10 times and scoring his first 2 provincial tries as the Lions finished a disappointing 6th on the Premiership log. After missing the entire

2012 ITM Cup 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

due to injury, he returned fully charged in

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and played 11 of Wellington's 12 games in a season which saw them finish top of the Premiership log before being defeated 29–13 at home by in the playoff final.

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would be a year of turmoil for the Lions as they came 7th and last in the Premiership, recording just 1 win in 10 games. Shields captained the side and was named as Wellington's Player of the Year for his efforts. The Lions failed to gain promotion to the Premiership at the first time of asking, finishing 2nd, behind on the Championship log before being defeated by the same opposition in the playoff final, narrowly going down 26–25. Injury restricted Shields to just 6 matches in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

where he scored a try and picked up a yellow card.

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saw Wellington once again come to close to earning promotion but yet again falling just short. After another 2nd place log finish, this time behind , they were upset at home by , 40–37 in the playoff semi-finals. Shield played 9 of 11 games during the campaign. It was announced on 19 November 2017 that he would join

in 2018. Wasps entered administration on 17 October 2022 and Shields was made redundant along with all other players and coaching staff. A move to the French

side

was confirmed on 26 October 2022.

Super Rugby

With just a little over a season's experience of provincial rugby under his belt, Shields was signed to a Super Rugby contract with the ahead of the 2012 season. Faced with stiff competition for a place in the starting line up from the likes of

Jack Lam Jack Tafa Lam (born 18 November 1987) is a New Zealand-born, Australian-raised rugby player who plays as a flanker for Moana Pasifika and internationally for Samoa. Lam played seven matches for Tasman in 2008 before moving north to Waikato in ...

, Faifili Levave, Karl Lowe and Victor Vito, he acquitted himself well and went on to play 13 times during his debut season of Super Rugby, with 10 of these appearances coming from the replacements bench. Shields enjoyed a breakout year in

, playing in all 16 of the Hurricanes games, including 13 starts and 3 tries before a knee injury hindered him in

, restricting him to only 6 matches. The Hurricanes were one of Super Rugby's form teams through

and

, finishing as runner-up in 2015 following a 21–14 home defeat to the , before finally getting their hands on the trophy at the end of the 2016 season after a 20–3 victory over the in the final. Shields featured heavily in both campaigns, playing 18 times in 2015 and 16 times in 2016 as well as contributing 2 tries in each season. On 27 June 2017, Shields captained the Hurricanes to a historic draw against the touring

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

side. Shields was replaced by Reed Prinsep in the 56th minute, with the Hurricanes finishing the game at 31-31. Shields was named as captain of the Hurricanes for the 2018 season despite his upcoming departure, with regular captain

Dane Coles Dane or Danes may refer to: People Pertaining to Denmark * Dane, somebody from Denmark * Danes, an ethnic group native to Denmark * Danes (Germanic tribe) Other people * Dane (name), a surname and a given name (and a list of people with the name ...

ruled out for the season with a torn ACL.

International

Shields was a New Zealand Under-17 representative in 2008 before being a member of the New Zealand Under-20 side which won the

2011 IRB Junior World Championship The 2011 IRB Junior World Championship was the fourth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams, this competition replaced the now defunct under 19 and under 21 world championships. The event was organised by rugby's ...

in Italy, scoring 1 try in 5 matches at the tournament. He had been named in

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

training squads in 2012 and 2016, but did not go on to make his senior international debut. On 5 November 2016, Shields featured for the

Barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less c ...

in their 31–31 draw against at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. He played the entire 80 minutes in the number 6 jersey in a side containing his Hurricanes teammates,

Reggie Goodes Norman Reginald Goodes (born 4 April 1991) is a former South African-born rugby union player who played as a prop for in New Zealand's domestic Mitre 10 Cup from 2010 to 2016 and for the in the international Super Rugby competition from 2012 t ...

and

Michael Fatialofa Michael Fatialofa (born 14 September 1992) is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays as a lock for Worcester Warriors in the Premiership. Early career Born in Auckland, Fatialofa was educated at Mount Albert Grammar School in h ...

. On 9 June 2018, he made his debut for England, coming on as a replacement in England's narrow defeat against South Africa at Ellis Park. He was then named as a starter for the second test against South Africa the following week. Shields started once in the

2019 Six Nations Championship The 2019 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 20th Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland ...

against and featured twice more from the bench. Shields missed selection for the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

, having been ruled out of contention for the competition through injury. Uncapped player,

Lewis Ludlam Lewis Ludlam (born 8 December 1995) is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a Flanker (rugby union), flanker for Premiership Rugby, Premiership side Northampton Saints. Early life Ludlam was born in Ipswich, into a family who ...

, was called in as a replacement for Shields during warmup fixtures. He has not featured in an international since.

International tries

Career honours

New Zealand Under-20 *

IRB Junior World Championship The World Rugby Under 20 Championship (known as the IRB Junior World Championship until 2014) is an international rugby union competition. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, World Rugby, and is contested by 12 men's junior nat ...

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Hurricanes *

Super Rugby statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shields, Brad Living people New Zealand rugby union players Hurricanes (rugby union) players Wellington rugby union players 1991 births Rugby union flankers Barbarian F.C. players People from Masterton New Zealand people of English descent England international rugby union players Expatriate sportspeople in England