Colin Shaw joined Glasgow Warriors for season 2005-2006, but he had already played 11 games for the professional team before signing as a full-time player. He marked his Glasgow debut by scoring a try in the 2003 warm-up match against Gloucester at Kingsholm in August 2003. His first Celtic League game was against Cardiff in November 2004.

He represented Glasgow and Scotland at three age levels, including the Four Home Unions’ under-18 tournament in Dublin in 2000, the world junior (under-19) championship in Italy in 2002, and the IRB Under 21 World Championship in 2003 and 2004. He played for the Scottish Districts under-21 team in the 49-14 win against New Zealand Youth at Stirling in November 2003, and he went on to appear in no fewer than 17 internationals at that level, including the IRB Under 21 World Championship victory against England at Newbury in 2003.

Colin, who was born in Irvine, originally played for Ayr and latterly Glasgow Hawks, and he was a member of the Scotland sevens squad in five of the IRB’s 2006-2007 World Series. In the Twickenham tournament he scored a try in each of successive matches against New Zealand, Wales, and Australia, and a week later at Murrayfield he notched two each against Russia and Kenya. He was back in the sevens squad for the IRB’s 2008 tournaments in Wellington (New Zealand), San Diego (USA), Hong Kong, Adelaide (Australia), London and Edinburgh. A week after the Australian tournament he played for the Scottish Thistles who won the Melrose 125th anniversary sevens, and he was in the national squad for six of the IRB’s 2008-2009 tournaments as well as the RWC Sevens in Dubai in March, when Scotland won the Plate competition.

A hamstring injury prevented Colin from adding to his representative honours on Scotland A’s 2006 visit to Canada for the Churchill Cup tournament. His age-grade credits for Glasgow included five tries in three successive games for the team who won the district under-20 championship in May 2003. A year earlier he had first experienced senior representative rugby as a try-scoring replacement for Glasgow just nine days after his nineteenth birthday in the victory against Scottish Exiles at Waterloo in the Inter-District Championship.