Shaw: Playing for England keeps me going
Simon Shaw glad to be back playing for England
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Thursday, 12, Mar 2009 09:10
Veteran England lock Simon Shaw has revealed the dream of representing his county is the reason he continues to play the game.
The 36-year-old Wasps star was a surprise call-up into the England team to face France on Sunday. Shaw has rarely been a first-team regular for England in a career which has spanned 13 years and seen him win 50 caps.
Despite a number of excellent performances in the 2007 World Cup, Shaw was dropped during last season's Six Nations and has had to wait a year to be brought back into the international scene.
"I've been around the England set-up for 15 years and I just love playing for England. I don't think I'd be just playing club rugby if I didn't think I was capable of playing international rugby," said Shaw.
"I had a good pre-season but then picked up some niggling injuries and my form wasn't great, so then the doubts do flicker into your mind a bit.
"But you have a couple of good games, get back to doing the basics well and then you just build from there."
When asked what he will bring to the team, Shaw said: "Perhaps I bring a bit of extra ball carrying and it's a big pack we're playing against so I also bring weight in the scrum and a bit more punch, figuratively speaking, in the rucks."
Shaw replaces London Irish star Nick Kennedy in the team and though he admitted he was "disappointed" in getting dropped, Kennedy tried to look on the bright side and was hopeful he could make an impact from the subs bench.