Hall of Fame

Simon Shaw

(BRITISH AND IRISH LION, ENGLAND, WASPS, TOULON AND BRISTOL)

Simon was born 1 September 1973 in Nairobi, Kenya. After spending his childhood in Spain, he moved to his parent’s native England when he was 16. Having enrolled at Godalming college, Simon came down to Cranleigh RFC with friends from college and within a year had gone from novice to playing First XV rugby.

With youth players from the club, Simon played for Surrey Colts but on discovering his age, they rapidly diverted him into the England Schools system, where he formed a 2^nd row partnership for England with BJ Mather who went on to be a formidable centre for Wigan and Great Britain’s Rugby League sides.

From Cranleigh, Simon went to University in Bristol and having represented England at various levels including Students and Under-21s, became a star of the Bristol Club. Not only was he selected as an uncapped 20-year-old, to play for the Barbarians against South Africa in 1994, but he grabbed the headlines for dominating the legendary Kobus Weise in that fixture.

He joined London Wasps in 1997 and became a key part in arguably the most successful Club side in the history of English Rugby:

Wasps won the Tetley’s Bitter Cup in 1999 and retained it the following season with a victory over the Northampton Saints.  Playing against Bath in August 2000, Shaw became the only lock in the Premiership to have scored a drop goal.  In the 2002–03 Zurich Premiership Shaw won the Premiership for the first time. That season Shaw also won his first European silverware with victory against Bath in the 2002-03 Parker Pen Challenge Cup. The 2003-04 Zurich Premiership season saw Wasps retain their Premiership crown and win the 2003-04 Heineken Cup, their first Heineken Cup title. The 2004–05 season saw Wasps win the Premiership for a third season in a row. The following season Wasps defeated the Scarlets to win the Powergen Cup. Wasps defeated Leicester Tigers 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, Toulon.

Representative Career.

He won his first England cap against Italy in 1996. The following year Shaw was picked for the successful 1997 British Lions tour to South Africa. 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, he had to step in for the injured Martin Johnson, the man whose success undoubtedly cost him dozens more England caps. He earned his 20th cap during the 2003 Six Nations Championship, a tournament which saw England win the Grand Slam. Shaw played in all three 2003 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, earning him an MBE as part of the World Cup winning team.

Shaw was called up to the squad for the 2005 British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand. He then cemented himself in British Lions History by being selected to Tour South Africa in 2009, twelve years after his first tour there. During this tour he played one of the greatest games of his career, in the second test at Loftus Versfelt. A performance that saw him named Man of The Match.