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The shortest Ranfurly Shield tenures ever - and how a record could be equalled this weekend
The Mitre 10 Cup has only been in action for three rounds so far this year, yet the Ranfurly Shield has already been held aloft by three teams.
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Heading into the 2020 campaign after snatching the Log O’ Wood off Otago towards the end of last year, Canterbury were only able to hold off challenges from North Harbour and North Otago before the Barrett brothers and Lachlan Boshier guided Taranaki an upset win in Christchurch.
The Bulls’ Ranfurly Shield celebrations ended almost as soon as they started, however, as Otago went to Inglewood to re-claim the silverware just six matches after they lost it.
Their 30-19 victory at TET Stadium brought Taranaki’s short-lived Ranfurly Shield reign to a close after only eight days – the third-shortest tenure in the Shield’s 116-year history.
Only three other teams throughout history have held onto one of the most prized possessions in New Zealand provincial rugby for a shorter period than that.
Both Wellington (1963) and Waikato (2007) won and lost the Ranfurly Shield within the space of seven days – the Lions falling short against Taranaki after clinching it off Auckland, while the Mooloos handed it over to Canterbury a week after ending North Harbour’s first-ever Shield success.
Neither of them suffered the misfortune of Hawke’s Bay, though, who surrendered the Log O’ Wood to Counties Manukau just six days after claiming the Shield off Otago in 2013.
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The rapid succession of Ranfurly Shield handovers seven years ago broke a remarkable run of milestones, with the Steelers winning the Log O’ Wood for the first time in their history, and the Magpies breaking a 44-year Shield drought.
Even Otago – whose loss to Hawke’s Bay brought an end to a Ranfurly Shield tenure of just nine days, the fourth-shortest run of all-time – had broken a 56-year Shield-less spell when they defeated Waikato 216 hours earlier.
With the Razorbacks becoming the third side already this season to get their hands on the Log O’ Wood, there are eerie parallels between the sequence of Shield results from 2013 and those of 2020.
Otago will need to be wary of the series of events from seven years ago from coming to fruition once more when they again host Hawke’s Bay in their first Ranfurly Shield defence in Dunedin this Sunday.
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A repeat of the Magpies’ 20-19 win over the hosts in 2013 would condemn Otago to a Shield reign of just seven days, the second-equal shortest of all-time and even shorter than the tenure that abruptly came to an end for Taranaki.
It was good week in the Taranaki… But it's over now. #TARvOTA#RanfurlyShield https://t.co/sWEbfA7MoL
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 27, 2020
Otago head coach Tom Donnelly was playing at lock for his side in that game, while All Blacks hooker Liam Coltman and squad captain Michael Collins were both involved to varying degrees as well.
All three will need to draw on their experiences of that day if their youthful side is to keep the Magpies, who are coming off an upset win over the year’s first Ranfurly Shield holders Canterbury, at bay.
That will be no easy task, though, when Hawke’s Bay boast similar experience through captain Ash Dixon and veteran flanker Brendon O’Connor, both of whom were part of the Magpies squad that captured the Shield off Otago all those years ago.
One-test All Blacks loose forward Gareth Evans was donning the blue and gold jersey in that match, but has since switched back to his home province and won the Shield with the Bay in 2014 when they defeated Counties nearly a year to the day after they lost to the Steelers.
Returning from injury in the win over Canterbury in Napier on Saturday, expect Evans to play a key role in a top-of-the-table Championship clash that could fall either way.
While there’s no certainty over who will walk away victorious this coming Sunday, one thing is for sure in that there’s no telling what could happen in the fight for the Ranfurly Shield.
Shortest Ranfurly Shield tenures
1. Hawke’s Bay (six days); 1 – 7 September 2013
2= Wellington (seven days); 31 August – 7 September 1963
2= Waikato (seven days); 24 August – 1 September 2007
4. Taranaki (eight days); 19-27 September 2020
5. Otago (nine days); 23 August – 1 September 2013
Comments on RugbyPass
It’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
24 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
24 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
24 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
24 Go to comments