‘Get in early’ for Shield defence
The country’s move to level 1 couldn’t have come at a better time for Taranaki rugby, with its first Ranfurly Shield defence in two years set to take place this weekend.
A crowd of up to 2500 will be able to watch the Taranaki Bulls take on Otago at Inglewood’s TET Stadium at 2.05pm on Sunday.
The team will be defending the Log o’ Wood, which they took off Canterbury with a 23-22 win on Saturday night.
The Bulls last won the shield in 2017, also taking it from Canterbury, and successfully defended it until 2018.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Auckland would move to Covid-19 alert level 2 at 11.59pm on Wednesday. The rest of the country moved to level 1 at 11.59pm last night.
Taranaki Rugby Football Union chief executive Laurence Corlett said he was looking forward to the week ahead and Sunday’s match.
‘‘It’ll be fantastic,’’ Corlett said.
‘‘Thank you to all our supporters. It’s been a tough couple of years.’’
Corlett said the union had plans in place for alert level 1 and
2, and level 1 meant they could host a bigger crowd.
Inglewood’s TET Stadium can seat and stand about 2500 people, and he thought it would be a sellout. ‘‘Get in early,’’ Corlett said.
Sunday would make for a great match, he said, after Otago beat Manawatu¯ 36-25 at the weekend.
The Bulls will be down on All Blacks Beauden Barrett, Jordie Barrett and Tupou Vaa’i, but Corlett said that was no surprise.
Corlett said it would give other players a chance to defend the shield.
He was not sure if any other players were going to get the All Black call-up, but said there was another announcement in coming weeks.
Corlett reiterated fans should get their tickets, which go on sale today, fast because of the smaller stadium.
Yarrow Stadium, the Taranaki Bulls’ usual home ground, is unable to use its stands, which have been declared an earthquake risk, but Corlett said he did not mind.
‘‘It is what it is. I’m not too fussed.’’
The Ranfurly Shield will be on show for the community this week, with a parade along Devon St taking place today
at 4.15pm.
The parade will start at the clock tower and finish at Crowded House Bar and Eatery.
New Plymouth deputy mayor and Inglewood businessman Richard Jordan only needed one word to describe how the town was feeling about hosting the Shield match – ‘‘euphoric’’.
‘‘It’s what we’ve been hoping for,’’ Jordan said.
‘‘It’s [Inglewood] certainly got behind the Bulls, and the team has done their part.
‘‘The Shield is home.’’ Jordan said he thought it would be hard to get tickets to the match with it happening ‘‘in a rugby town like Inglewood, in a rugby province like Taranaki’’.
‘‘I would suspect the place will come alive,’’ he said. ‘‘You can’t get better than Heartland Rugby like this.’’
– Tickets to the match go on sale at 9am today. They can be found at iTicket.co.nz, New Plymouth, Ha¯wera and Stratford iSites, or bought by calling 0508iticket. Adult tickets are $25, and children (under 15) $15.