Shades of 2013 as Otago try to avert Magpie raid
After a seven-year itch, the venerable Ranfurly Shield has got all jumpy again. And isn’t it brilliant?
Holders Otago reconvene with Hawke’s Bay tomorrow in some neat symmetry with 2013 when the Magpies – captained by Ash Dixon who remains at the helm – pinched it from Dunedin after a nine-day stay.
Hawke’s Bay, in turn, lost their first defence to Counties Manukau and still hold the record for the shortest tenure in the shield’s 116-year history: a mere six days thanks to scheduling quirks and unlikely to be beaten.
This year it’s changed hands twice already, spending just eight days in Taranaki before Otago captain Michael Collins reclaimed it. Should the Magpies fly away with it once again – and on recent form they’re a solid chance – Otago will enter the record books for the equalsecond shortest tenure at seven days.
Meanwhile, Championship teams Northland, Manawatu¯ and CountiesManukau – all due to visit either Dunedin or Napier soon – watch anxiously in hope of catching the Log o’ Wood fairy dust being sprinkled across the country.
Any Mitre 10 Cup team can suddenly get a shot, and with All Blacks absent, have a realistic chance of lifting it regardless of their title hopes. Even the big guns covet it, too, with Wellington due to visit Napier on November 8 for what could be their first challenge since 2014 when the same holders saw them off.
‘‘They see how special it is to everyone else, but we just don’t get a turn down here,’’ said Wellington coach Leo Crowley.
‘‘The players see the emotion of teams playing for it, they hear about it, and sometimes during your career you just want to experience that yourself. That would be the buzz if it ever happened. We might just have to wait till next year’s draw.’’
It’s a long way from the monotonously dominant Auckland team who held it for eight years (1985-1993), and even Canterbury who saw off 23 challenges (2000-03) then another 14 (2004-06). Since then, Hawke’s Bay’s 11 defences after that 2013 victory was the only double-figure tenure.
Already this year saw three holders after as many weeks of the Mitre 10 Cup, after Canterbury started with it. There were four different holders in 2013 (Otago pinched it off Waikato to start that incredible run of pass-the-shield), and
‘‘We’re very aware of what that means to the region.’’
Ryan Martin
Otago assistant coach on the ‘‘mystical power’’ of the Ranfurly Shield
another four in 2007 when Waikato, who had amagical tenure from 1997-2000, held it for just seven days. Again, it was Otago who ruined the party in Hamilton that year.
It’s 70 years since the shield moved most, up and down the country in 1950 with five holders: Otago, Canterbury, Wairarapa, South Canterbury and North Auckland (now Northland).
Collins, the Otago skipper, said this week the shield’s history was what grabbed him.
‘‘I remember the first time my grandparents showed me a photo, Nana and Pop when they got a photo with it 50-odd years beforehand. That was the coolest thing for me,’’ he told Sky TV’S Breakdown show.
Crowley said even the youngsters in his team were fizzing for a challenge, which was meant to be today against Canterbury before Taranaki saw to that.
Technically Wellington could get a challenge if either side wins tomorrow, but it would need Otago to hold it then lose to a struggling Counties Manukau on October 18.
That would give the Lions a shot in Pukekohe the following week, and if they lifted it their hypothetical first defence
would be against Tasman, their conquerors in last year’s final. Even the Mako, for all their success, haven’t challenged since 2012 when they lost 49-40 to Taranaki.
Otago have Jamie Mackintosh in their ranks, the prop who knew how to win a shield with Southland. Another veteran forward Nasi Manu returned from overseas and experienced some shield fever he never thought he’d catch.
They celebrated last Sunday then returned to Dunedin where the traditional airport crowd gathered, before focus switched to Forsyth Barr Stadium at 4.35pm. The old adage goes, you don’t go out to defend the Ranfurly Shield, you go out to win it again.
‘‘It just has a mystical power about it. It unites communities and there’s so much history around great teams and great men that have played for it,’’ Otago assistant coach Ryan Martin told Sky’s Breakdown.
‘‘We’re very aware of what that means to the region.
‘‘We made sure we kept a cap on our celebrations that night, and all the boys got to the sauna at Les Mills and worked out the dirty water the next day. Our prep is back on song for the week.’’