Shield win; backs Otago to defend FERNS INSPIRATION @ Page 8

was very obvious and very vocal. They sparked the visitors on.

‘‘We wanted to go up there and create history rather than the old cliche of going up there for a game of footy and whatever happens, happens,’’ he said.

‘‘We put a lot of emphasis on the Shield and just gave it a real crack and ultimately it turned out in our favour.

‘‘It was awesome.’’

It meant a lot personally for

Young. He had tried and failed to win it previously, both as a player and a coach.

‘‘Our boys just rolled their sleeves up and, on that particular day, you could sense something was going to happen.’’

‘‘When [Hayden Parker] scored that try it gave us a wee bit of breathing space and we just hung on.’’

The final minutes felt like hours, Young said. The celebrations lasted even longer.

‘‘There was a lot of celebration, let’s put it this way. We may have possibly overdone it a wee bit.

‘‘It was a pretty special time all right. The joy and the thrill on people’s faces when they got a look at it or got to touch it. Everybody embraced the moment.’’

Losing the Shield to Hawke’s Bay just over a week later was ‘‘gutwrenching’’, he said.

‘‘We felt we had let ourselves and the whole province down. But we were a young bunch in front of big crowd and it was new to everybody.

‘‘At halftime we had to refocus and just go about our job. As it turned out we were unlucky not to hold on to it in the end.’’