Simon Dalton Shaw MBE (born 1 September 1973) is a former English

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

player who played as a

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

. He played for

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

, London Wasps and

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label=Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is the ...

. He won 71 caps for

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 ...

between 1996 and 2011, and 2 for the

British & 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 ...

, with whom he toured 3 times.

Early life

Shaw was born 1 September 1973 in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city prope ...

, Kenya. He was educated at

Runnymede College Runnymede College is a co-educational independent school located in La Moraleja, Madrid, Spain. It was founded in 1967 by Arthur Powell CBE as the first British school in Spain. It is a private non-denominational school offering a British ed ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

and at Godalming College in Surrey. He played for

at 17, despite not taking up the game seriously until he was 16, after his family had moved to England from Spain. He also played for Cranleigh Rugby Club in his younger years. Shaw has represented England at various levels including students and Under-21s. At , he is one of the tallest men to have played for

Club career

Shaw played for

at the age of 17. He joined London Wasps in 1997. Wasps won the

Tetley's Bitter Cup The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...

in 1999 and retained it the following season with a victory over the

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", ...

. Playing against Bath in August 2000, Shaw became the only lock in the Premiership to have scored a

drop goal A drop goal, field goal, or dropped goal is a method of scoring points in rugby union and rugby league and also, rarely, in American football and Canadian football. A drop goal is scored by drop kicking the ball (dropping the ball and then kickin ...

. In the

2002–03 Zurich Premiership The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Shaw won the Premiership for the first time, defeating

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east of t ...

in the final. That season Shaw also won his first European silverware with victory against Bath in the

2002–03 Parker Pen Challenge Cup The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

. The 2003–04 Zurich Premiership season saw Wasps retain their Premiership crown and win the

2003–04 Heineken Cup The 2003–04 Heineken Cup was the ninth season for which European teams competed for the Heineken Cup. Competing teams, from England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, cou ...

, their first

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

title. The 2004–05 season saw Wasps win the Premiership for a third season in a row. The following season Wasps defeated the

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup (which ...

to win the

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 ...

. Wasps defeated

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its ho ...

in the final of the 2006–07 Heineken Cup to become European Champions for the second time. The following 2007–08 season saw Wasps defeat Leicester Tigers in a final again to regain the Premiership title. In May 2008, playing against Leeds Carnegie in the last match of the regular season, Shaw became the first player ever to play in 200 Premiership matches. In November 2011, Shaw decided to finish his career overseas and signed for French club,

RC Toulonnais Rugby Club Toulonnais (), also known as RCT but usually Toulon; oc, Rugbi Club Tolonenc) is a French professional rugby union club based in Toulon in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. A current participant in the first-tier Top 14 competition, they ...

International career

He won his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in 1996. The following year Shaw was picked for the successful

1997 British Lions tour to South Africa The 1997 British Lions tour to South Africa was a series of matches played by the British Lions rugby union team in South Africa. This tour followed the Lions' 1993 tour to New Zealand and preceded their 2001 tour to Australia. The much-ant ...

. A spate of injuries and Wasps' indifferent form in his first season at the club cost him his England place and although he regained his place in the England squad for the following summer's tour, he was forced to withdraw with a long-standing back injury. During the

2000 Six Nations Championship The 2000 Six Nations Championship was the first series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship, following the addition of Italy to the Five Nations. It was the 106th season of the championship overall. The title was won by England. England won ...

, he had to step in for the injured Martin Johnson. He earned his 20th cap during the

2003 Six Nations Championship The 2003 Six Nations Championship was the fourth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship, and the 109th international championship overall. The annual tournament was won by England, who completed a grand slam, and went on to win the 20 ...

, a tournament which saw England win the

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

. Shaw played in all three

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

warm up matches. He was not named in the original 30-man squad but was flown out to Australia due to an injury to

Danny Grewcock Daniel Jonathan Grewcock MBE (born 7 November 1972) is an English former rugby union player who played as a lock. He played for Coventry, Saracens and Bath. He won 69 caps for England and five for the British & Irish Lions. Early life Grewcock ...

, earning him an MBE as part of the World Cup-winning team. He keeps this in a drawer as he feels he didn't "win" it as he never played in a test. Shaw was called up to the squad for the

2005 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand In 2005, the British & Irish Lions rugby union team toured New Zealand for the first time since 1993, playing seven matches against first and second division teams from the National Provincial Championship, one match against the New Zealand Mao ...

after Irish lock

Malcolm O'Kelly Malcolm O'Kelly (born 19 July 1974) is an Irish former rugby union player who played as a lock for Ireland and Leinster. O'Kelly was born in Chelmsford, England, and attended Templeogue College secondary school in Dublin, Ireland. He has played ...

aggravated a groin injury in training. Shaw was selected as a member of the England 2007 World Cup squad. He played the full 80 minutes in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

. Shaw was selected by the

for their 2009 tour of South Africa, his third Lions tour. He was the oldest person to be selected and to play for the Lions. He won his first Lions cap in the second test against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

at Loftus Versfeld,

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

and he was named man of the match. During the third test in Johannesburg he was yellow-carded for foul play when he knee-dropped

Fourie du Preez Petrus Fourie du Preez (; born 24 March 1982) is a South African former professional rugby union player. He played as a scrum half for the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup competition and the Bulls in Super Rugby between 2002 and 2011, and for Japan ...

. In 2004 he was red-carded for a similar offence against New Zealand Blacks. In August 2011 he was selected as part of England's squad for the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South ...

. In 2011, Simon Shaw became a director of a rugby hospitality company, Set Piece Events.

References

External links

* * * *
Simon Shaw photo by sportingheroes.net

Simon Shaw's Rugby Hospitality company
1973 births Living people English rugby union players England international rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England Bristol Bears players Kenyan emigrants to the United Kingdom Kenyan people of English descent Wasps RFC players Barbarian F.C. players Rugby union locks Alumni of the University of the West of England, Bristol Members of the Order of the British Empire Sportspeople from Nairobi RC Toulonnais players White Kenyan people English expatriate sportspeople in France Kenyan expatriate sportspeople in France {{Authority control