CHRIS HEWETT
THINKING ALLOWED

SIMON Shaw mastered a wide range of rugby’s arts and sciences, but not even he could find a way of shedding a quarter of his bodyweight every time the ball went into touch. Unfortunately for an England forward with a list of achievements longer than an orang-utan’s arm, that gap in his skill set ended up costing him the earth – or, to put it another way, a place in the fabled 1997 Lions Test team, which amounted to the same thing.
Heaven knows, the multi-medal-winning lock suffered his share of slings and arrows, and they must have stung like hell, as setbac...