Shaw to cap his whirlwind introduction

NEW FACES FOR '95: England's rugby union team looks certain to gain an imposing recruit. Steve Bale reports

There could be nothing more obvious than to suggest Simon Shaw is the young one to watch in domestic rugby union in 1995, because he is 6ft 9in and 20st and there is, in a literal sense, no one more obvious.

True, he does have to look up, however slightly, to the 6ft 10in Martin Bayfield and Derwyn Jones, and Shaw's own dad, Charles, is an eyeball-to-eyeball 6ft 9in too. But Shaw junior, at the tender age of 21, for goodness sake, is already a lock of behemoth proportions.

And with a talent of generous proportions as well - which is a reflection of the greenhorn's capacity for fast learning given that it is only five years since he first took up the oval ball and ran with it. Now, he seems a natural.

The final tribute to this remarkable rise came when Jack Rowell, England's manager, said before last month's Canada match that he would have no qualms about inserting the uncapped Bristolian into his Test team. As soon as Martin Johnson thought his tender hamstring might give Shaw his chance, a miraculous recovery took place.

This is how Rowell tells it, at any rate. Shaw did not realise he was held in such high managerial esteem until your correspondent told him so. "To be honest, I don't often read the papers, so some of it tends to pass me by," he said. "But I'm obviously flattered. I thought I'd been called up just to test me out rather than me being ahead of other contenders."

On the contrary, he can now expect, rather than merely hope for, a cap in 1995 - whether in the World Cup or subsequently - and the whole of his experience in '94 was proof positive of Rowell's year's-end contention. Shaw now has every chance of accompanying Johnson and Martin Bayfield to the tournament in South Africa.

"It hasn't really sunk in," Shaw said, still astounded that he has come so far so fast. Yet, to listen to him now, you would think last season had been a crushing disappointment. "I spent the season with the England Under-21s and I was a bit dismayed notto make it into any of the Emerging England team's games.

"I felt I was worth more than the 21s and wondered if I was out of the picture. I was then stunned when I was picked as a stand-by player for the England tour of South Africa." Since when, short of actually playing for England, more or less everything has gone right for him.

Shaw had been left out of the original tour party on grounds of inexperience but the call came when Johnson was concussed against Transvaal. Within an hour of arriving in Pretoria, Shaw was training and the next day he had to pinch himself to realise he was playing against South Africa A in Kimberley.

And performing well enough, combining unusual mobility and dexterity, to earn the approbation of manager Jack, with no sign of tired legs from his sudden journey, no sign that the thin air and hard ground at Hoffe Park were the slightest problem.

Shaw had played no 15-a-side rugby since Bristol concluded their First Division season against Leicester five weeks earlier.

He played in the Bristol side which won the National Tens, but otherwise his preparation for a tour he did not expect had been squash, tennis and rowing.

He had been in bed in Guildford when the call came to replace Johnson. "It's the best wake-up call I've ever had," Shaw said before hastening to Bristol, where he is a business studies student at the University of the West of England, to pick up his things in time for the evening flight from Heathrow.

Shaw had already sat three of last year's seven university exams but managed to have the remaining four postponed until September.

Having passed all of his exams, he is spending this academic year - the "filling" year in his sandwich course - working for an appropriate employer, Courage, sponsors of the English league.

Having comfortably coped in Kimberley, and come through fire a week later against Eastern Province in the battle of Port Elizabeth, Shaw found a sort of serenity when he next entered the international stage in the Barbarians' victory over South Africa inDublin last month. "I remember in the last 20 minutes feeling I could run around for ever," he said.

These are experiences that would enhance anyone's career but in Shaw's case they have had the particular benefit of proving him not only to Jack Rowell but to Simon Shaw. He has, after all, been making up for lost time ever since he started his rugby career on arrival at Godalming Sixth Form College, Surrey, at the age of 16.

Shaw was born in Kenya and as a youngster lived in Spain, playing basketball and football and having scarcely any idea of the existence of rugby, let alone any interest in playing it. At Godalming he found the rugby coach more sympathetic than his football counterpart, and once persuaded the towering teenager could hardly be ignored.

As he was already 6ft 8in at the age of 17, perhaps it was not surprising that he was capped by England Schools only a year into his new rugby life. "My size was a distinct advantage," Simon says. When he went to Bristol, the city's rugby club was the obvious next destination. The benefit has been entirely mutual.