Excitement should be there for Taranaki players
There won’t be any parades in Christchurch on Friday night with the Ranfurly Shield not holding that sort of sway any longer.
But you can bet there will be 23 Taranaki players playing with an unbridled passion in an endeavour to get their hands on the Log of Wood.
They will want to add their names to the list of Craig Clarke’s squad in 2011, Andrew Slater’s crew in 1996, those who defended the shield 16 times from 1963 to 1965 under Ross Brown, players who gained glory in 1957-59 under Peter Burke and those who provided the province with their first tenure in 1913-14.
The Ranfurly Shield is about magical stories and sad tales. May they never die and may many more be created.
In the 1963 challenge against Wellington, flanker Ritchie Coles grabbed a pair of tries. Better still, the gliding
Dean Magon ran in three times against
Auckland in 1996. Beauden Barrett was the main man in
2011’s 15-12 victory over Southland, kicking all the points.
The challenge for the current squad is to emulate the feats of these three cult heroes and turn the dreams in to reality. It will take 23 to win it but just a bit of magic from one or two to ram it home.
No matter how you look at it, Canterbury have the stats to back up their top position on the table. The most tries, the most clean breaks, most offloads and the best lineout winning percentage only tell part of the story. They are full of no-nonsense individuals in the pack and try scoring machines in the backs. Their counter-rucking and counter-attacking are two aspects that place them ahead of the mob. In most games they have owned the contact zone, gone forward at will and played with audacity and almost a distain for the opposition.
The dream for Taranaki will be to go top of the premiership table and bring the Shield back to the supporters. Eighty minutes of intensity and accuracy, and a plan that possesses an exploitation of Canterbury’s weaknesses and Taranaki’s strengths, will provide the belief and focus. Colin Cooper has done it before, which will bring an inner calm and a deadly desire.
The individual stats also tell a story. Canterbury fullback George Bridge has the most carries and the most defenders beaten. Winger Braydon Ennor has the most tries and outside backs Tim Bateman, Josh McKay and Bridge are all in the top 10 try scorers.
The messages are simple. Don’t kick too often. Kick with a plan. Make sure there is a concerted chase across the field and sort out the wide defensive strategies.
Another task that will eat in to Canterbury’s game is to match and win the tackle and ruck battle. Accuracy, with the ball in hand and sufficient support to prevent turnovers and place their ball under pressure will be crucial. This is the biggie.
With the forward pack now in good shape with experienced and hard working locks Leon Power and Kane Thomson in place and with plenty of backline talent to exploit a team that rank low in the tackle percentages, intensity and accuracy will see a positive result.
It’s only 80 minutes. That’s not much out of a season. With Peter Burke looking down, it would be great to think he had a smile a mile wide at the end of the game.