The life and near death of the Ranfurly Shield

NZ Herald

3 days ago

'We were definitely a major underdog and we weren't given a show at all. I think that's the beauty of the Ranfurly Shield. If you get everything right on the day, you can achieve what you need to achieve,' says Sloane.
Shield fever! A huge crowd of 40,000 piled into Ōkara Park to watch Northland (then North Auckland) play Auckland on August 26, 1972 for the Ranfurly Shield. Auckland won 16-15. Northland reclaimed the Shield in 1978.
If Northland are successful, it'll be the 14th time the trophy has changed hands in the past decade.
Whilst the gloss has largely been removed from New Zealand's premier domestic competition (and by gloss, read All Blacks), the 121-year-old Ranfurly Shield still provides a pulse for the NPC. Players and fans (especially of a certain demographic) still hold it in the highest regard – a symbol of provincial pride.
'There's no bigger trophy in New Zealand sport than the Ranfurly Shield, really,' says Sloane.
However, there was a time when the Log o' Wood was badly broken – well before Hawke's Bay players dropped it on to a concrete floor in 2023. Before New Zealand Rugby held an inquiry as to the nature of the white powder that dusted it during the same ill-fated Magpies celebrations.
Last time it was figuratively broken was way back when corner flags were obliterated by try-scoring wingers and the cricket pitch at Eden Park wasn't dropped in – it was visible all year round. When big games were played in the afternoon ... on TV One.
David Kirk passes under the pressure of Bruce Deans during the 1985 Ranfurly Shield match between Auckland and Canterbury. Photo / Photosport
'The shield wasn't dead at all'
By the 18th of September 1993, 'Shield Fever' had been sweated out. In some corners of the country, it had become hypothermic – a chill so bad it was on the verge of being terminal. Or at least that's how it felt for those without the Shield and little chance of their team winning it.
Auckland had held the Shield for 2926 days – or eight whole years. In that time, their grip on the Shield was so monotonous that they began to take the shield on tour. On the face of it, it looked like the Auckland rugby public was so disinterested in the lightweight challenges that the holders had to take it on the road to find a crowd. That might've been true to some degree, but what they found was provinces hungry for quality rugby and a shot at New Zealand rugby's most coveted prize.
'If you went to those games in those towns, you know, the shield wasn't dead at all,' says All Blacks and Auckland point-scoring machine, Grant Fox.
Fox holds the record for the most points in Ranfurly Shield history with 935. More points than many unions have scored.
Grant Fox, the record points-scorer in Ranfurly Shield rugby. Photo /Photosport
In 1988, Auckland travelled to Te Kūiti to play King Country – giving away the home advantage that holders had generally enjoyed since the Shield's very first defence in 1904.
'When you've held on to the Shield at home, the rest of the country are saying they want to see the Shield. We all bought into it,' says veteran All Blacks and Auckland flanker Alan Whetton.
'We thought if we're good enough, we'll hold on to it and if not, so be it.
Alan Whetton backed up by his brother Gary during Auckland v New South Wales in the AGC South Pacific Championship at Eden Park, April 11, 1988. Photo / NZME
'But to see the crowds come out and support it, what it did to those provinces just ignited the shield again. To give these provinces a chance to challenge for the Shield where they may never get an opportunity.'
Te Kūiti is 200km from Auckland – but for the visitors, Rugby Park was a world away from Eden Park.
'I think a pig ran on to the field! There wasn't any room to warm up, that's how small the sheds were. The crowd was stacked on the sidelines and boy, they gave it to us,' says Whetton.
On one occasion, they took the Shield and their cheerleaders to Paeroa to play the Swamp Foxes of Thames Valley in front of 7000 locals.
'I remember the vast crowd – and that the last time we played them, we kept them out from [scoring] 100 points and hoped it wasn't going to be the same,' says former Thames Valley winger Wayne Warlow.
It wasn't the same – but it was still a one-sided contest that finished 58-7 to the visitors. Whilst the score would test a few memories now, nobody who was there could forget the spectacular team try scored by the hosts. Launched from near the home side's 22m line, the ball went through 10 sets of hands in one sweeping movement that travelled from the right side to Warlow on the left wing and finished back in the right corner by winger Kevin Handley.
'It just seemed to be a bit surreal, I suppose. Things, for the first time in the game, just opened up and you could actually move. We got it into space and just took off,' recalls Warlow.
Warlow moved to Waikato in 1991. This would not be his last Shield challenge.
Wayne Warlow in action during the NPC match between Waikato and King Country, 1995. Photo / Photosport
Party in the provinces
'I can tell you, the shindigs afterwards and the after-matches were just as important as the actual event and they go down in history, I assure you,' says Whetton.
The Thames Valley after-match almost didn't begin. Having expected a sizeable turnout for the post-game celebrations the following day – the venue was well stocked with refreshments. But the night before the big game, the booze to keep thousands refreshed was allegedly uplifted by an organised crime syndicate.
The small-town tours kept coming – and so did the heavy scorelines.
Gary Whetton lifts both the Ranfurly Shield and the NPC championship trophy after the 1988 NPC final at Eden Park. Photo / Photosport
In 1993, Auckland had taken it to Levin, Westport and lastly Ōamaru – where they dished out a 139-5 hiding to North Otago. They then returned home and belted a talented Wellington side 51-14. The Shield's heartbeat was growing ever more faint as the greatest provincial team in New Zealand rugby history showed no signs of weakness.
'Someone had to turn up on Eden Park and play well to beat us because, you know, we weren't a bad footy team,' says Fox.
The errors that ended an era
That 'someone' was John Mitchell and his band of nearly men from Waikato. They were 'nearly men' because many of them were either denied an All Blacks career – or had limited opportunities, due to the men they were about to oppose. Captain of that unofficial club was Duane Monkley, widely regarded as the greatest All Black that never was.
'When you run on to the paddock and you can believe in your forwards, that they're gonna match an All Black pack - all we have to do as backs is just finish any chances off. And make sure we're just up in their faces,' says Warlow.
Before they ran out on to Eden Park, Warren Gatland had asked his teammates to visualise the Shield in their shed.
'He goes, 'Look, I'm telling you it's gonna be on the table when we walk in the changing shed. If you can't see it now, you don't belong here', sort of thing.
Craig Stevenson (from left), Warren Gatland and Graham Purvis with the Ranfurly Shield after winning it from Auckland in 1993. Photo / Photosport
'And it was just like, 's***, imagine if it was here though?'. And then we all got on board, I suppose,' says Warlow.
The Mooloo men planned to make life as uncomfortable as possible for the Shield holders.
'Let's get early points and see if it rattles them. And it did. I remember a big drop kick down field and J.K. [Sir John Kirwan] got it and he just throws this loopy pass to Foxy because Duane [Monkley] was right on him, and then bloody Rhys Ellison smashes Foxy, he throws it back again.
'He gets smashed by bloody someone else and we end up scoring. It was like, that's not Auckland. Jesus,' says Warlow.
The shield in the sheds was getting easier to picture.
'We did that for the whole game, probably antagonised them a bit. Loey [Richard Loe] was doing his bit to get under their skin. All legal, of course,' says Warlow with tongue in cheek.
John Mitchell holds up the Ranfurly Shield after defeating Auckland on September 18, 1993 at Eden Park. Photo / Photosport
Fox's memory of the clash isn't quite so vivid. He remembers more of what happened after the final whistle, after their unthinkable reign was over. He recalls the disappointment of his teammates – and particularly that of new coach Sir Graham Henry.
'When we won the Shield in '85, Alex Wylie brought the Canterbury team into our dressing room to have a beer, right?
'I know there's an official thing you do on the park afterwards when the captain hands it over to the other captain, but what resonated with me was the Canterbury team's gesture in '85.
'All those years later, we remembered that, and so we went through to the Waikato guys and had a beer with them,' says Fox.
Sir John Kirwan of Auckland congratulates Graham Purvis on winning the Ranfurly Shield. Photo / Photosport
Warlow remembers the 1993 post-match beers, too.
'When they came into the shed, Foxy and J.K. and all of them, it was almost like they were relieved. It was like, just a message to us to say, 'guys, just respect it'.
'Foxy, in particular, was just like, 'It's been a hard thing to hang on to for eight years',' recalls Warlow.
Cauliflowered heirs
The trip from Eden Park to Hamilton by bus is not a long one – but it still provided enough time for the new holders to get into trouble.
Warlow recalls the bus pulling over for a toilet stop as they headed south.
'We may have got in trouble for having a cauliflower fight up at Pukekohe there while we were having a pee. I think we got a bill for about, I don't know, 40 cauli or so. The union were quite happy to pay it!' says Warlow.
For much of the country, Auckland's reign may have admitted the shield into palliative care – but it had first fallen ill in 1982 when Canterbury, masterminded by the late Sir Alex 'Grizz' Wylie, lifted the log against Wellington at Athletic Park.
Alex "Grizz" Wyllie lifted the Ranfurly Shield in 1969 and 1972 as a player - then again in 1982 as a coach. Photo / Photosport
They held the shield for 25 successful challenges – equalling the record held by Auckland (1960-1963). They'd have broken the record by defeating their northern rivals at Lancaster Park in 1985 in what was later dubbed the 'match of the century'. Instead, the 28-23 defeat marked the beginning of its stay at Eden Park - a residency that lasted even longer than the famous stay of Elvis Presley's at the International Hotel in Las Vegas.
Canterbury comes a cropper
Between those two Shield eras, there was just one successful challenge in 87 Ranfurly Shield matches. Two careful owners in 11 years.
The closest Auckland got to losing it in that eight-year retention was their second defence against a spirited Counties side (12-9) in 1985 and a much more memorable clash with Canterbury in 1990.
That match was shrouded in controversy as John Buchan – celebrating his 100th game for Canterbury – was sent off in what legendary commentator Keith Quinn described as 'the second minute' of play. Quinn detailed the sequence of events in his commentary – naming Gary Whetton as the protagonist for stomping on the chest of Canterbury lock Chris England as he entered a ruck. He then suggested 'the boot went in from Buchan' - presumably in retaliation, before referee Keith Lawrence gave him his marching orders.
Buchan was able to be replaced by Phil Cropper – and this is where controversy enters the dimly lit corridors of skullduggery. Buchan stops to talk to Cropper before he runs on to Eden Park. The challengers were fully aware of the opportunity this situation presented.
At that time, teams didn't have to have a reserve hooker on their bench.
Rob Penney in action for Canterbury against Fiji in 1991. Photo / Photosport
'Bizarrely, there was a bit of a conversation at some time, and I can't recall exactly when prior, around that anomaly,' says former Canterbury loosie, Rob Penney.
The problem with that anomaly is that it wasn't one on this occasion – because everyone knew Cropper was up to it.
'There's a little lucky break here for Canterbury, because Cropper is a former hooker. Even though we know him now as a flank forward,' says Quinn in commentary.
'Yeah, we all did,' says Whetton.
'He has a well-documented history as a hooker,' he adds.
At the next scrum, Penney and Robbie Deans explain to referee Lawrence that they can't scrum without a hooker. From that moment, scrums are replaced by free kicks.
'One of the fastest games probably ever played,' suggests Penney.
And a stroke of luck for the challengers.
'Everyone was struggling with the power that they had. Scrum time was always a disaster or very challenging when you played them up there, when you played them anywhere,' says Penney.
His opposing No 6 agrees.
'It certainly helped them because we were very dominant in the scrum in those days. But that just adds another bit of drama and a chapter to the Ranfurly Shield era, doesn't it? Creates that history to talk about and, you know – great!' says Whetton.
The match became a kicking contest between Fox and Canterbury's sharpshooter Greg Coffey. Fox scored 29 of his team's 33 points as the challengers went home empty-handed.
Canterbury coach Rob Penney with the Ranfurly Shield after his side defeated Wellington in 2009. Photo / Photosport
'I don't know if we would have got out of there if we'd won it anyway. I think that they would have locked it away and probably sued us or something,' suggests Penney.
'There was a lot of emotion post that game. The changing rooms in Auckland at that time were just below ground level. They opened out just above footpath level and a few of them got kicked in, so glass splattered across the changing room floor,' recalls Penney.
Incidentally, Cropper's next game for Canterbury saw him start against Otago the following season. At hooker.
Ranfurly back on tour
As Zinzan Brooke handed the shield to John Mitchell on that spring afternoon in 1993, the embodiment of provincial rugby supremacy sat up and breathed again. The 17-6 victory was cheered across the country – possibly even by some apathetic Aucklanders. The Eden Park residency was over, Ranfurly had left the building and it was back on tour.
Andy Slater and Kevin Barrett at the Auckland v Taranaki, Ranfurly Shield match at Eden Park, 1996. Photo / Photosport
Thirty-nine teams have held the Shield in the 32 years since, with an average Shield reign of just five successful defences. And it has got around.
Warlow wonders if the Shield needs another lengthy reign.
'When it moves around like it does, you know, when someone's got a stranglehold, I suppose it always feels more compelling that you've taken it off them,' he says.
The Barrett family's Ranfurly Shield history continues with Jordie Barrett (left) and Beauden Barrett taking it back to Taranaki, after beating Canterbury in 2020. Photo / Photosport
In the past decade, the Shield has been held by Taranaki, Tasman, Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Otago, Canterbury and Waikato. Many of them on multiple occasions.
All but two of New Zealand's major provinces have had Shield success since 2004, and ironically, Auckland haven't held it since 2008.
Wellington captain Piri Weepu is handed the shield by Auckland captain Ben Atiga in 2008. Auckland haven't held the Shield since. Photo / Photosport
Northland and Manawatū have been waiting the longest to reclaim the log of wood. It was Northland who relieved Manawatū of the Shield in 1978 – under supposedly controversial circumstances.
Reports from that time suggest the referee played six extra minutes before North Auckland (now Northland) kicked a penalty to lead 12-10.
'Rubbish,' says Sloane.
'When we got the penalty, there was still a little time to go on the clock.
'When we got the penalty, it stemmed from a stoppage of play and there was a lineout. And me being the hooker, while the stoppage was on, I said to the team, 'we've got every chance here, it's just the next mistake - it'll go one way or the other'.
Peter Sloane in 1978 after North Auckland took the Ranfurly Shield off Manawatū. Photo / Photosport
'The referee blows time on again and I go over to the lineout and throw the ball in and promptly throw the thing crooked. I was so embarrassed in front of the team.
'So it went 15 in and a scrum. We did a few changes with bigger guys on the right-hand side of the scrum, and I just said push to the right,' says Sloane.
'The halfback kindly fed it in a bit quick and we got a tight head and he got caught offside,' recalls Sloane.
Stuart 'Chippie' Semenoff kicked the penalty – his fourth of the match, to put the challengers ahead.
'What a lot of people don't say is that there was a restart and obviously you want to retrieve the kickoff and then kick it out. Well, we didn't. They got the ball back and [Jim] Carroll had a long attempt at a field goal that only just missed,' says Sloane.
'And if that kick would have gone over, no one would be talking about how long it went.'
Sloane is hopeful that the current Northland side will get to experience the highs of winning the Shield as well.
The shield still has pulling power. Counties captain Fritz Lee (from left), Baden Kerr and Sherwin Stowers with the Shield as fans turned out to line Great South Road in Papakura to see the team parade in 2013. Photo / Photosport
'Perhaps it doesn't mean quite as much as it did in the ′50s, ′60s and ′70s, but certainly something you want to get your hands on. And it can inspire a lot of people,' says Sloane.
The greats of the ′80s and ′90s believe the Old Log has new admirers.
'If you ask the players nowadays what the Shield means, I reckon it means just as much to them as it ever has throughout its history. I honestly do,' says Fox.
Ash Dixon celebrates victory with the Ranfurly Shield, Otago v Hawkes Bay, Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin on October 4, 2020. Photo / Photosport
'It's a special trophy and I think that responsibility is on all of us that have been blessed to be involved in any way to keep those stories alive,' says Penney.
'Long may the Shield continue. It's a remarkable piece of wood,' says Whetton
The Shield is alive and well in 2025.
Mike Thorpe is a senior multimedia journalist for the Herald, based in Christchurch. He has been a broadcast journalist across television and radio for 20 years and joined the Herald in August 2024.