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Otago's new Ranfurly Shield cult hero on the path to Super Rugby Pacific
By Adam Julian
Lucas Casey etched his name into Ranfurly Shield folklore on September 20 when he scored two tries for Otago during their monumental 38-36 victory over unbeaten Canterbury in Christchurch. This marked Otago’s first successful challenge for the Log of Wood in the Garden City since 1935.
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With Otago trailing 36-26 and Will Tucker in the sin bin, Casey scored an electrifying 60-meter solo try that shifted the momentum for the visitors. With seemingly no options, he powered through a tackle from Crusaders lock Jamie Hannah, evaded Newcastle Red Bulls recruit Tom Christie, and found space to accelerate. Faced only with All Blacks Sevens veteran Andrew Knewstubb to beat, Casey executed a sharp left-foot step, leaving the defence unable to close in on him.
“It was pretty awesome to contribute to the team like that. It all happened pretty quickly,” Casey told RugbyPass humbly.
“We were actually setting up a box kick. I saw they were split on defence, so I decided to run a bit wider, managed to get into a gap, and just bloody went for it.”
In the 43rd minute, Casey had already outpaced All Blacks XV winger Chay Fihaki with a 25-meter sprint. When evergreen hooker Liam Coltman powered over from a lineout drive in the 66th minute, successfully converted from the sideline by Cam Millar, Otago secured a two-point lead that they would maintain, underscoring their credentials as serious NPC championship contenders.
Otago has now won five consecutive matches since a narrow 31-27 defeat to Tasman on August 30.
“We’ve got a really good connection in the team. We get along just as well off the field as we do on it,” Casey shared.
“We lost two of our first five games, but those losses were close, which gave us confidence. We were still figuring out how we wanted to play, and once we were on the same page, we found a way to win because we trust each other and the game plan, which is about moving the ball when we can.”
A prime example was Friday’s epic 44-41 quarter-final win over Waikato, where Casey scored a try. Captain Sam Gilbert made an outrageous 40-meter drop goal – the first by an Otago player in a decade – and mercurial Miller secured the win with a penalty near halfway at full time.
Individual brilliance has defined Otago’s best season since making the NPC final in 2005. With eight tries and 113 tackles in ten matches, Casey has an enviable highlights reel.
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In Otago’s come-from-behind 46-41 victory over defending champions Wellington, he scored two long-range tries. When Otago defended the Ranfurly Shield against North Harbour on September 27, securing a 41-26 win, he scored first in the second half, showcasing his superior intuition.
Casey has followed an increasingly unorthodox path to professional rugby. The son of former Pleasant Point and South Canterbury halfback Kevin Casey and school teacher Rebecca, Lucas grew up on a beef farm in Kerikeri in the Bay of Islands in the far north of New Zealand. He chose not to migrate south to Auckland to attend prestigious 1A schools, instead thriving in the Northland representative system from Under 13 to Under 18 while enjoying less structured coaching, often led by his father and two local icons.
“Tom Robinson is a big role model for me. He proved you could make it from Kerikeri, and I love the way he played with full-throttle aggression. He was generous with his time coaching local teams, and he’s a funny dude. His dad used to help out as well,” Casey mentioned.
Loose forward Tom Robinson played 26 games for Northland and won 34 of his 55 appearances with the Blues in Super Rugby Pacific, where he served as captain in 2021. Tom’s father, the bushy-haired former All Blacks lock Alistair Robinson, won all four matches he played on the 1983 tour of the Northern Hemisphere and played 74 games for North Auckland.
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Casey moved to Dunedin to further his studies. He is one paper away from a Bachelor of Commerce with a major in management and marketing. He joined the Kaikorai Rugby Club, known for producing All Blacks like Mike Brewer and Byron Kelleher. He worked his way up from the Colts to the Premier team, impressing enough in 2023 to earn his first-class debut for North Otago in the Heartland Championship, where he played four matches, with highlights including victories over Thames Valley (34-33) and Poverty Bay (50-43), where he scored two tries.
Casey’s momentum continued in 2024 with his Otago NPC debut in a 22-13 defeat to Southland in Invercargill. “Surreally,” he came off the bench in Otago’s 31-28 win against Northland in Whangarei.
Casey has really caught fire in 2025. He was named Otago Club Rugby Player of the Year as Kaikorai captured the Premier title for the first time since 2016, despite fielding a team that started the season with more than half their starting XV as debutants.
It wasn’t always perfect – Kaikorai finished with a 10-6 record – but they won the games that mattered, including the highest-scoring final ever, 46-41, against Harbour. Casey played No. 8 for most of the season, scored a try in the final, and fittingly kicked the ball out to end the game. In fact, in every game where Casey scored a try, Kaikorai emerged victorious.
The other matches included Dunedin (2, 27-24), Alhambra Union (3, 69-7), University (2, 40-14), Harbour (1, 69-15), Zingari (1, 43-15), and Alhambra Union (1, 71-24).
“I tried a couple of clubs, but at Kaikorai, I felt a sense of home. From the start, I felt well-supported and comfortable,” Casey said.
“The boys have a great culture off the field, which I think is really important. It’s essential to play hard while also enjoying the camaraderie with your mates”
Casey has signed a two-year deal with the Highlanders for Super Rugby Pacific. The deal will see him join the wider training group in 2026 before stepping into the top squad in 2027.
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