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

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player for

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

in the

Bunnings NPC Bunnings Group Limited, trading as Bunnings Warehouse or Bunnings, is an Australian hardware and garden centre chain. The chain has been owned by Wesfarmers since 1994, and has stores in Australia and New Zealand. Bunnings was founded in Pert ...

and

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

. He played 8 times for the

England national rugby union team The England national rugby union team represents the Rugby Football Union (RFU) in international rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France national rugby union team, France, Ireland national rugby union team, ...

in 2018 and 2019. 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. Th ...

before returning to New Zealand in 2023.

Early career

Born in the town of

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

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

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt () is a list of cities in New Zealand, 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#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropoli ...

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

Petone Petone (Māori language, Māori: ''Pito-one'') is a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand. It stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. Europeans first settled in Petone in Januar ...

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 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. 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 ...

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, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

due to injury, he returned fully charged in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

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.

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

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 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

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

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

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

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 National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

side

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, France' ...

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, 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 national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

side. Shields was replaced by

Reed Prinsep Reed Prinsep (born 17 February 1993) is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays as a loose forward for the in the international Super Rugby competition. Early career Born and raised in Canterbury, Prinsep attended and played rugb ...

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 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' ...

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, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

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 is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

in their 31–31 draw against at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

. 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 to ...

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 national rugby union team, England ...

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 matc ...

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

Lewis Ludlam Lewis Wesley Ludlam (born 8 December 1995) is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a flanker for Top 14 club Toulon and formerly for the England national team. Early life Ludlam was born in Ipswich, into a family who foll ...

, 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 -

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Hurricanes *

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 has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

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 Rugby union players from Masterton New Zealand people of English descent England international rugby union players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in France Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom English rugby union players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in France English expatriate sportspeople in France English expatriate rugby union players USA Perpignan players Wasps RFC players People educated at Taita College