Buck Shelford: Return the Shield to the amateurs
Wayne ‘Buck’ Shelford has a plan to rejuvenate the Ranfurly Shield.
It is somewhat radical and it will not find favour with the Otago Razorbacks, who won the venerable Log o’ Wood in audacious style last month in Hamilton.
“I’ve talked to a lot of people about this. I have watched the Ranfurly Shield matches for the last few years and I think it’s lost its lustre under the professional model,” says the former All Blacks captain.
“If you are the holder, great, you can do something with it, but for everyone else, it’s almost a non-entity. Most don’t get an opportunity. They are mostly worried about finding their Mitre 10 Cup Premiership or Championship positions.
“My idea is to take it away from the professionals, or semi-pros, and let the amateurs play for the Ranfurly Shield. That’s every provincial union in New Zealand. So Auckland could play North Harbour with completely amateur teams. The Shield was given to the amateurs (in 1902, though not contested until 1904). It wasn’t given to the pro-amateurs. The pros have got their system and their money, whereas really the amateurs don’t have anything.”
As it stands, there are generally seven Ranfurly Shield challenges per season, five mandatory clashes during the Mitre 10 Cup at the holder’s home venue, and two in July/August against two Heartland Championship provinces, usually the Meads Cup and Lochore Cup champions, Hence, Wanganui has had several recent cracks at the Shield.
The whole course of Shield history could have dramatically shifted had second division Bay of Plenty managed to hold on against a fast-finishing Auckland at Eden Park in 1996. Alas for the Log o’ Wood, Auckland roared home from an 11-29 deficit and Matt Carrington scored and converted for the 30-29 victory, thus breaking Steamers’ hearts. Had they hung on, the Shield might still be played among the Heartland unions to this day.
Shelford envisages an FA Cup-style knockout, starting with all 26 provinces, which is 13 matches. It would be played over five weekends, perhaps part way through the club season in May/June. There would be a bye in the second or third round, which would be “the luck of the draw.” All the Mitre 10 Cup provinces could, in theory, be drawn against each other.
So no province would hold the Shield until it emerged victorious at the end of the five weeks, after the final. There could be scope for midweek or Sunday games, so as not to interfere too heavily with club rugby. Provinces would need to dip into their club and Second XV or Colts stocks, as no contracted player would be eligible.
“I reckon there would be a lot of following for it,” says Shelford.
Shelford never tasted Shield success as a player or coach. He had left Auckland before that union won the Shield in 1985, and his beloved North Harbour finally got its hands on it in 2006, well after his playing and coaching days.
He is frustrated that the bulk of resourcing and media coverage – especially in his wider Auckland region – goes to the elite level. Rugby writers such as Lindsay Knight kept the history of the Shield to the fore until relatively recently.
“Club rugby, for example, is being left out of media coverage. Heartland rugby, nothing up here. There is nothing for the amateurs to read in the paper on a Monday morning anymore, which is sad,” says Shelford. Some pockets of New Zealand media still place importance on club, schools, provincial and Shield rugby – the Otago Daily Times, for instance – but that number is dwindling.
Shelford is right to say the Shield has lost some its lustre. While the players of today still get a kick out of lifting it, it is some 42 years since the inception of the NPC, which gave more meaning to the fixtures list, but also removed the Shield as being the unchallenged focal point of the provincial season.
Here is an alternative solution. Over to the powers-that-be.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
Also, looking at the data from last year, it seemed like by far the two biggest predictors of success were (1) kicking more than your opponents, and (2) having a higher rate of line-out wins than your opponents. I haven’t gone through the stats this year with a fine tooth comb, but the increase in kicks per game and the increase in tries from lineouts would suggest that these two metrics are only getting more important. England’s move away from a kick-heavy game to win against Ireland was seen by some as evidence that running rugby is on the rise. Alternatively it could be taken as evidence that if one team kicks more, and the other team wins more lineouts (as England did) a match is bound to be close to a draw.
2 Go to commentsI have been finding it odd that points per 22 entry has become such a talked about stat, given that your points per entry can be driven down by having more entries. These data would seem to confirm that it isn’t a useful metric, or at any rate is less useful than total entries.
2 Go to commentsI think the last two games England have played is some of their best rugby they have played under Borthwick. There has been a lot more attacking instinct and as a reward have created some well worked tries. Ollie Lawrence is a good foil at 12 as he offers the hard direct lines whilst the rest of the backs can play open. As much as it pains me to say but I do hope England keep playing this way. On a side note my favourite try of the weekend was Lorenzo Pani’s for the nice loop play that put him away and his finish was excellent. Thanks as always Nick.
39 Go to commentsMost exciting player on the planet right now, worth the price of a ticket.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith and Ireland live rent free in Safa’s heads. Their comments only triggers because its true. If the Boks had dismantled a 14 man AB’s, then there would be more respect. But they didnt, in fact quite the opposite, the 14 man NZ were clearly better. And the Bok have always been ordinary between RWC’s, thats why their supporters are now ‘only RWC’s matter’. They know thats BS. Its BS to both AB’s and Bok’s due to their history. But now its all the Safas have. Now we’ll hear excuses when they lose “oh we didnt have all our players available, the ABs/France/Eng/Irel were at full strength”, forgetting for a minute that its because of their own dumb policy. Oh well, makes a change from blaming ‘cheating refs’.
23 Go to commentsNo Nick, they did not, in fact, justify any ‘probables’ label. At no time did they seriously compete for the championship. Ireland led from start to finish and in the end, as a result of glaring referee errors, were never under serious pressure to lose their crown.
39 Go to commentsMoney for him, and his family, has been the sole motivator since he signed for Queensland aged 17. Why else sign for Melbourne. Tupou is poorly advised. If he’d stayed and developed in NZ he would have had a long Test career. If Leinster offer him a few more coins than he’s currently earning, he’s goneburger.
4 Go to commentsFinn. No one would say Ford had played well up until the last game. One standout performance in 5 is hardly in form . It should be a given that a 10 will control play . Not in Fords case be praised for suddenly doing so. Where was he against Scotland ,Italy. The pundits were saying how far away from play he was standing and one even said that the Ireland game was his last chance saloon to perform . Not exactly top form catching anyones eye. If he can play like this game after game then great. Keep him in . But after 90 odd caps we all know he just doesnt keep it going . By all means keep him there but the issue is that Borthwick will persist even when he plays poorly. Which is more often than not. Thats why i am concerned that Smith ,despite fab form , cannot get a game at his preferred spot. Can you imagine Ford at full back .
5 Go to commentsI do not really get why put Ollivon at 6 when he’s a 7, while Cros was the best Frenchman of the tournament, playing at…6. His only game replacing Aldritt at 8 doesn’t change much in terms of his impact. Lamaro was also outstanding in that brilliant Italian side, probably better than Reffell. So putting 2 Welsh players from the wooden spoon holders, and none of the 4th nation (Scotland) is also strange. Is it about showing that in this harsh transition Wales is, there were some standouts…?
6 Go to commentsThe events at this year’s six nations should undermine many of the arguments made against promotion and relegation between the six nations and the REC. If Italy had been allowed to yo-yo between divisions it conceivably could have really hurt their development, but if Italy, Wales, and Scotland are all at risk of relegation, with none of them being relegated more often than once every 3 or 4 years, you’d have to back all of them to muddle on through it, especially when you factor in the likelihood they’ll still be guaranteed world league matches against tier 1 opponents. Another way of looking at italys resurgence would be to say that the development model of adding an extra team to the six nations has worked, and now must be done again. Georgia could join to make it a 7 team round robin, and if and when Georgia demonstrate an ability to consistently win games, Portugal can also be added to make it an 8 team 2 conference competition. Frankly at this point I think it falls to world rugby to demand that the 6N act in the interests of the game. If the 6N won’t commit to expansion then the 6N teams should be handicapped in world cup draws (i.e. world cup seedings would not be based on their ranking points, but on their ranking points minus a 5 point penalty).
6 Go to commentsSteve Borthwick deserves credit for releasing the shackles on his England side and letting them play in a manner that somewhat resembles the top sides in the Gallagher Premiership. Will they revert to type in New Zealand in July.?
39 Go to commentsJames Lowe wouldn't get in any other 6N team. He's a great example of Farrell’s brilliance, and the Irish system. He is slow. His footwork is poor. But he fits perfectly in that Irish system, and has a superb impact. But put him in another team, and he'll look bang average.
6 Go to commentsCrusaders reached their heights through recruitment of North Island players, often leaving those NI teams bereft of key players. Example: Scott Barrett and Sam Whitelock robbed the Canes of their lineout and AB locks. For years the Canes have struggled at lock. This rabid recruitment was iniated by rule changes by a Crusader dominated NZR Head Office. Now this aggressive recruitment has back-fired, going after young inside back Hamilton Boys stars. They now have 4 Chiefs region 10s and not one with the requisite experience at Super level. Problems of their own making!
2 Go to commentsOver rated for a long time…exposed at scrum time too.
4 Go to comments“Firing me” should have been Gatland’s answer.
2 Go to commentsFinn Russell logic: “World” = 4 countries. Ireland may be at or near the top. FR’s bigger concern should be he and his fellow Scots (incl. the Bloemfontein ones) sliding back down to below top 10
42 Go to commentsMind games have begun. Ireland learned their lesson after saying they could beat England with 13 players or whatever. Still, if they win at Loftus, that would be impressive - final frontier etc.
58 Go to comments$950k for a Prop that isn’t fit enough to play 10 mins of rugby? Surely there is someone better to replace Big Mike with
4 Go to commentsFour Kiwis in that backline. A solid statement on the lack of invention, risk-taking and joy in the NH game; game of attrition and head- banging tedium. Longterm medical problems aplenty in the future!
6 Go to commentsGood article, I learnt quite a lot. A big sliding door moment was in the mid 00s when they rejected Steve Anderson's long term transformation and he wrote Ireland's strategy instead.
2 Go to comments