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Ranfurly Shield - Source: Photosport -
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Auckland challenges Wellington for the mighty Log o' Wood on Saturday night but has the Shield lost it's magic? Two of tvnz.co.nz's sports writers go head-to-head in another irreverent debate.
The Shield is still the Holy Grail
By Chris Matthews
Entrenched in over 100 years of tradition and with an element of surprise rarely seen in rugby these days, the Ranfurly Shield remains the holy grail of our domestic game.
Sure the advent of professional rugby and the ever-increasing international calendar has detracted from its glory, but every so often a reign or challenge occurs that not only captures the imagination of the nation but also has long-lasting social effects.
Some would argue Auckland's record breaking run of 61 matches between 1985 and 1993 was when the Shield lost its magic, however, I would beg to differ.
Through this era the Log o' Wood was taken on the road to small rural unions for the first time. This gave provincial towns an opportunity to capture the essence of the Shield magic, albeit it for just one day, and this legacy continues today.
Auckland's domination of the Shield certainly went a long way to building the Auckland/Canterbury/Blues/Crusaders rivalry and was a catalyst for national treasures such as the "JAFA" and inspiring young boys in Christchurch to hold up signs at AMI Stadium declaring that they hate Aucklanders.
In more recent times, Bay of Plenty's win over Auckland in 2004 was the foundation for the once easy beats to become a union that should never be taken lightly. They have made the playoffs of the NPC twice since those heady days and are now sitting on top of the Air NZ Cup ladder after three completed rounds.
Harbour's famous Shield victory over Canterbury was the inspiration for the first street parade down Husrtmere Road since True Bliss released Tonight. Even when Wellington, the self-anointed cultural capital of New Zealand, claimed the Log o' Wood, Piri Weepu partied down Courtney Place in a way not seen since his infamous night at Pony prior to the 2007 World Cup.
And maybe, in the modern era, this is the greatest thing about the Shield. The Log o' Wood has the ability to galvanize a community and to give a city or district a sense of identity.
So the Shield rolls on to episode 616 on Saturday night when Auckland attempt to take back the Shield they lost to Wellington one year ago.
And with its history engrained and the "winner takes all" format retained, the mighty Log O' Wood will always have the capacity to spark a street party.
The Shield has lost its lustre
By Max Bania
Saturday night's Shield clash in the capital pits the two original 1904 combatants against one another; but if those brave fellows could see the state of their coveted Log o' Wood a century on, they'd doubtless be spinning in their graves.
So anonymous has the Ranfurly Shield become, that Wellington didn't even realise they were defending it in Round One against Otago until roughly the 60-minute mark, at which point they woke up and started taking the game seriously.
Like everything else at provincial level, the Shield has seen its value drop thanks to the commercially-driven sham of Super 14 rugby. The general absence of All Blacks from the Air New Zealand Cup removes a layer of intrigue from Shield clashes, while the nationwide drop off in crowd figures robs such fixtures of the rabid atmosphere of days gone by.
Then there is the boring domination of the "big three" unions. For much of the past quarter century, it has been freely passed around between Canterbury, Auckland, and Waikato. In fact, in between Wellington's tenures of 1981 and 2008, the only other team to successfully defend the Shield more than once is North Harbour in 2006.
It's clear how the Shield has lost its lustre, then. It's become a plaything of the rich. It's only trips to the heartland are for token warm-up games, whereupon the holders routinely rack up a century of points upon their brave but third-rate challengers.
Fortunately, the romance of the Shield will never burn out in the hearts of rugby fans. The flame is briefly reignited each time a smaller union pulls a David-and-Goliath job on one of the big guns - Taranaki and Bay of Plenty storming Eden Park in 1996 and 2004 respectively, for example.
What the NZRU must do, then, is create more scope for such boilovers. Force the holders to put the Shield on the line for both home and away Air New Zealand Cup games. That way, all corners of the rugby nation - Palmerston North, Blenheim, perhaps even Kerikeri? - would get to witness tense, meaningful challenges, instead of the annual pre-season walkovers.
The good health of the Log o' Wood is as dependent on the little guys as it's ever been. After all, many of the smaller unions have their own tales of past Shield dynasties to tell.
But in the 21st century, those tales seem sadly confined to the realms of hearsay as the professional era continues to strip the Shield of its lustre.
Do you think the Shield has lost it's magic? Feel free to comment below.
Add a Comment:
Post new commenternest.cunningham said on 2009-08-22 @ 01:47 NZDT: Report abusive post
The Log-o-wood and the Bledisloe cup mean more to me than any Super 14 title or even RWC ever could. The sad thing is though the majority of people do not share the same opinion as I do. @ 28 years of age I am still fortunate to be old enough to remember when the sheild meant everything like it did in the early 90's. The street parade in Nelson was enormous when Auckland brought it down here. I got autographs from then All Blacks JK, Micheal Jones, Whetton brothers, Grant Fox, Terry Wright etc