Joe Shaw born 20 February 1980 in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

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 and coach.

Playing career

Born in the West Midlands, Shaw played for

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the n ...

as a youngster. He won

representative honours at Under-18s, 19s and 21s, and was in the full England sevens squad in 2001. Shaw was a utility player, his broad range of skills saw him play at fullback, in the centres and on the wing. Shaw joined the

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

in the

Guinness Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

from

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...

in the summer of 2002. A memorable moment for many will be the try he scored in the Falcons' victorious 2004

Powergen Cup The RFU Knockout Cup was an English rugby union competition open to any member of the Rugby Football Union. First contested in 1971, it was the premier competition in English club rugby before the establishment of the English league structure in 1 ...

win over former club Sale at Twickenham. A recurring ankle injury picked up early in the campaign saw him miss much of the 2004/5 season, restricting him to six starts and five outings from the bench. Shaw used his time away from playing rugby to help the Falcons Community Foundation to good effect, winning the Falcons community award six years in a row from 2003 to 2009, while he was also named Powergen Community Player of the Season for 2006–2007. Furthermore, was the first rugby player inducted into the Show Racism the Red Card charity.

Coaching career

Away from the Falcons, Shaw coached local side

Westoe RFC South Shields Westoe RFC (formerly Westoe RFC) is a Rugby Union Football Club which currently plays in Durham/Northumberland 1 (tier 7 of the English rugby union system) at Wood Terrace, South Shields. The club changed its name from Westoe RFC ...

, from 2003 to 2009 along with former Falcons star Richard Arnold. Winning three league titles, two County Cups and reached the final of the Powergen Intermediate Cup. Upon leaving Newcastle Falcons in 2009 he became head coach of the bottom of the league Kowloon Rugby Club, finishing top in 2012, Shaw also became Hong Kong's national coach. He is now the head coach of Saracens Rugby Club. Shaw headed up the successful A League and LV Cup teams in 2015, and is part of the coaching team that helped secure the; 2015 & 2016 Premiership titles and the 2016 & 2017 European Champions Cup titles. Additionally Shaw has earned an MSc in coaching science.

References

External links

Newcastle Falcons profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Joe 1980 births Living people People educated at Old Swinford Hospital Newcastle Falcons players