Ranfurly Shield

The Ranfurly Shield.

The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Ranfurly Shield is based on a challenge system, rather than a league or knockout competition as with most football trophies. The holding union must defend the Shield in challenge matches, and if a challenger defeats them, they become the new holder of the Shield.

The Shield is currently held by Southland, who won it from Canterbury in Round 3 of the Round Robin in the 2011 ITM Cup. Although the professional era of rugby has seen competitions such as the National Provincial Championship and its successor, the ITM Cup, and Super Rugby detracting from the pre-eminence of the Ranfurly Shield, many still regard it as the greatest prize in New Zealand provincial rugby, thanks to its long history, the fact that every challenge is a sudden-death defence of the Shield, and that any team, no matter how lowly, has a chance to win.

History

In 1901 the Governor of New Zealand, the Earl of Ranfurly, announced that he would present a cup to the New Zealand Rugby Football Union, to be used as the prize in a competition of their choosing. When the trophy, which actually turned out to be a shield, arrived, the NZRFU decided that it would be awarded to the union with the best record in the 1902 season, and thenceforth be the subject of a challenge system. Auckland, unbeaten in 1902, were presented with the shield. The shield was also designed as a trophy for football, not rugby. This was because the picture in the centrepiece was a football one. The picture was modified by adding goal posts on the football goal that comprised the picture, to create a rugby scene.

Auckland were on tour in 1903 and did not play any home games, and thus did not have to defend the Shield. Their first defence was against Wellington in 1904, and was unsuccessful.

Since the introduction of the National Provincial Championship in 1976, all home games a Shield-holder plays in the NPC or its successors, the ITM Cup and Heartland Championship, are automatically challenge matches.

Auckland hold the record for the greatest number of consecutive Shield defences which stands at 61 matches between 14 September 1985 and 18 September 1993. During this period Auckland took the Shield on tour to provincial unions that, mainly for financial reasons, would be unlikely to be able to mount a challenge for the trophy. While dismissed by some critics, usually because of the one-sided scores, it was widely regarded as a success by those involved.

In 1994 when Canterbury wrestled the Shield from Waikato, the shield was in battered condition, with large cracks, chips and peeled varnish. Nearly a century of use had taken its toll. Canterbury player Chris England, skilled in woodwork, fully renovated the Shield, bringing it back once again into pristine condition.

On July 23 2011, Canterbury hosted Southland for the Ranfurly Shield in Christchurch. In the end Southland recaptured the shield after Canterbury took it from them in 2010. The final score was 22-19 to Southland.

Challenges

The Shield holder at the end of each season is required to accept at least seven challenges for the following year. All home games during league play, but not during knockout playoffs, in the ITM Cup or Heartland Championship are automatic challenges. The remaining shield defences must be made up of challenges from unions in the other domestic competition. For example, since North Harbour, an Air New Zealand Cup (now ITM Cup) team, held the Shield at the end of the 2006 Cup season despite losing their home quarter-final to Otago, they were forced to defend the Shield against Heartland Championship teams during the 2007 pre-season. Having successfully done so, all their home fixtures in the round-robin phase were Shield defences until they lost the shield to Waikato.

The Shield-holder is never forced to defend the Shield in an away match, although they may choose to, as Auckland, for example, did on a number of occasions during their record tenure as Shield-holder between 1985 and 1993. More recently, Auckland played both their mandatory defences against Heartland teams in 2008 on the road.

If a challenger successfully takes the Shield, all of their home matches for the rest of the season are defences of it.

Proposed rules changes

In August 2008, the New Zealand Rugby Union released a competitions review that proposed dramatic changes to the Ranfurly Shield rules:

• Once a team has successfully defended the Shield four times, all of the holder's subsequent matches in league play would be mandatory defences, whether home or away. The Shield, however, will not be at stake in semifinals or finals.
• If an Air New Zealand Cup team holds the Shield at the end of the league season, that season's winners of the Meads Cup and Lochore Cup, the two trophies contested in the second-level Heartland Championship, will receive automatic challenges in the following year.

The changes were not implemented, but did receive support from Auckland, which held the Shield when the NZRU released its report.

Total number of successful defences

Union	Won	Successful Defences
Wellington	1904	4
Auckland	1905	23
Taranaki	1913	6
Wellington	1914	15
Southland	1920	1
Wellington	1921	2
Hawke's Bay	1922	24
Wairarapa	1927	2
Manawhenua	1927	2
Canterbury	1927	1
Wairarapa	1928	8
Southland	1929	3
Wellington	1930	1
Canterbury	1931	15
Hawke's Bay	1934	2
Auckland	1934	1
Canterbury	1935	4
Otago	1935	8
Southland	1937	0
Otago	1938	5
Southland	1938	11
Otago	1947	18
Canterbury	1950	0
Wairarapa	September 2, 1950	0
South Canterbury	1950	0
North Auckland	1950	2
Waikato	1951	6
Auckland	1952	0
Waikato	August 23, 1952	6
Wellington	August 1, 1953	5
Canterbury	1953	23
Wellington	September 22, 1956	4
Otago	August 24, 1957	1
Taranaki	September 28, 1957	13
Southland	1959	0
Auckland	1959	2
North Auckland	1960	1
Auckland	1960	25
Wellington	1963	0
Taranaki	September 7, 1963	15
Auckland	1965	3
Waikato	August 27, 1966	0
Hawke's Bay	September 24, 1966	21
Canterbury	September 27, 1969	9
Auckland	August 28, 1971	1
North Auckland	September 18, 1971	6
Auckland	August 26, 1972	0
Canterbury	September 5, 1972	2
Marlborough	July 28, 1973	6
South Canterbury	August 17, 1974	1
Wellington	September 3, 1974	1
Auckland	September 21, 1974	10
Manawatu	August 21, 1976	13
North Auckland	1978	5
Auckland	1979	6
Waikato	September 7, 1980	8
Wellington	August 1, 1981	4
Canterbury	September 18, 1982	25
Auckland	September 14, 1985	61
Waikato	September 18, 1993	5
Canterbury	September 3, 1994	8
Auckland	September 23, 1995	3
Taranaki	August 24, 1996	1
Waikato	September 8, 1996	1
Auckland	October 4, 1996	6
Waikato	October 5, 1997	21
Canterbury	September 23, 2000	23
Auckland	October 11, 2003	2
Bay of Plenty	August 15, 2004	1
Canterbury	September 5, 2004	14
North Harbour	September 24, 2006	3
Waikato	August 25, 2007	0
Canterbury	September 1, 2007	1
Auckland	September 29, 2007	5
Wellington	September 20, 2008	6
Canterbury	August 29, 2009	4
Southland	October 22, 2009	6
Canterbury	October 09, 2010	2
Southland	July 23, 2011	0

Team	Successful Defences
Auckland	148
Canterbury	129
Hawke's Bay	47
Waikato	47
Wellington	42
Taranaki	35
Otago	32
Southland	21
North Auckland	14
Manawatu	13
Wairarapa	10
Marlborough	6
North Harbour	3
Manawhenua	2
Bay of Plenty	1
South Canterbury	1

External links

• Rampant Aucks take the 2007 shield
• Ranfurly Shield at nzrugby.com (history, stories, audio highlights, trivia)