Auckland, First Holder of the Ranfurly Shield, Again Seeks the Dominion’s Premier Rugby Trophy

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 737, 9 August 1929, Page 7

Auckland, First Holder of the Ranfurly Shield, Again Seeks the Dominion’s Premier Rugby Trophy

The Handsome Silver-Mounted Shield Given to the New Zealand Rugby Union by the Earl of Ranfurly in 1902 has Taken its Place as a Symbol of Historic Occasions in New Zealand Sport. It Ranks with the Currie Cup, of South Africa, and the Calcutta Cup, of Britain, as a Trophy of Paramount Interest to the Rugby World.

RANFURLY himself, mosturbane and popular of Governors, supervised the design and craftsmanship of the shield, which bears massive silver plaques on a background of highly-polished wood. He took a close interest in Rugby, and concurred when the New Zealand R.ugby Union decided that Auckland, haying

that year (1902) beaten Canterbury, Taranaki and Wellington, was entitled to be the first union to hold the shield. The original conditions forbade a touring team to take the shield on

tour. Consequently no shield matches were played in 19013, when Auckland was touring in the South. In 1904 the first shield game resulted in the defeat of Otago, 15-0, but later in, the season Wellington defeated the holders by 6 points to 3. Before the following season the All Blacks had left New Zealand on their historic tour, but though without a notable band of star players headed by the late David Oallaher, Auckland sallied forth and brought the shield back in triumph. ► This is the team that began Auckland’s long tenure of the trophy:—A. Newdick (Thames), W. E. McKenzie, R. Magee, R. Wynyard, L. Todd, H. Kiernan (captain), C. Dunning, Frank Herring, J. McGuire, A. Francis, W. Trevarthen, A. Bonella, W. Tyler, M. Fraser. Tyler and Fraser were both wing-forwards, Todd being sole fiveeighth. The score in Auckland's favour was 10 to 6, Spencer kicking two penalties for Wellington, while for the winners Wynyard and Tyler scored tries, while Francis kicked a goal. In the following year Auckland put up a record score which stood for many years by beating Southland, 48 to 12. In 1907 Auckland was again touring, and the only matches were against Taranaki, Wanganui and Hawke’s Bay. Wanganui made a great bid for the shield, and went down in a fighting exhibition by one point, 6 to 5. In the last moments of the game a Wanganui Collegiate School boy named Hitchings, who had given a rare display in the five-eighth line for the challengers, was given a chance at goal with a “sitter,” dead in front of the posts. From sheer nervousness he muffed the kick, and ironically enough Wanganui has never since had a winning chance in a Ranfurly Shield game. This great series of matches, extending from 1905 to 1913, was marked by many historic episodes. In 1908 the match against Wellington, in which the Southerners were heavily beaten, was played as an attraction at the time of the visit of the American Fleet. A huge crowd watched the match at Potter's Paddock, and Auckland, in high feather, romped home by 24 to 3. In 1909 Taranaki defeated Auckland by 6 to 3 at New Plymouth, but this was not a shield game, and the

setback was avenged at Auckland, IS to 5. Auckland also lost a match to Marlborough. S—3, but this was on a tour in which five matches had been played in ten days, in the following sequence: Thursday, Saturday, Tuesday. Thursday and Saturday, the last match being against King Country, then called Maniapoto, and a very wild lot indeed. Auckland had a great fright in 1910. when Canterbury led to the last stages of a great game with a potted goal by Crawshaw, the Auckland forwards rallying just in time to pull the match out of the fire by 6 to 4. Next came Wellington, to play the first drawn game, 3 all. Two years later another great draw was played against Otago, the score being 5 all. A great Wellington team was beaten 12—0. the Auckland winger, Macky, scoring four tries of meteoric brilliance. A strong Taranaki team was beaten 6—5, but had its revenge the following year, when Taranaki defeated the shield

holders by 14 to 11, and thus closed a memorable epoch in New Zealand Rugby. Taranaki withstood six challenges before losing the shield to Wellington, who had no sooner taken possession than the grim business of war dispersed all thoughts of further shield matches until 1919. when Canterbury, which had been consistently unlucky in shield matches, set the ball rolling again by going under to Wellington, 21-8. In 1920 Wellington

was the mark for all-comers, and stalled off no fewer than 10 challenges before Southland took the shield (then on tour with the team! in the eleventh. Southland returned the compliment by taking the shield North in 1921, and promptly dropped it to Wellington, who passed it on to Hawke’s Bay a week or two later. Thus began another epoch in the history of the shield. Hawke's Bay had all its close calls at the beginning of its period. A week after the team returned home with the shield it only just managed to hold it against a Bay of Plenty touring team, that gave it the fright of its life, the game ending 17-16 after a Bay of Plenty back had missed a simple chance to win the game by converting the final try. In the following year the Bay beat Wellington by 10 to 6. though it failed to cross the Wellington line. Porter played a great game for Wellington. It had another tight squeeze, against Canterbury, winning by 9 to S, after Canterbury had missed chance after chance with kicks at goal. Auckland went to Napier, and was beaten by 20 to 5. Hawke’s Bay was now at its zenith, and began piling up record scores. Auckland was beaten in the following year by 23 to 6, and in 1926 by 41 to 11. The Bay took the shield to Wellington in 1925, and retained it in a wonderful game, Falwasser scoring a try after running the length of the field from a movement engineered actually behind his own goal line by Jimmy Mill. In 1926 Hawke’s Bay took the shield to Christchurch, and won there by 17 to 15, Lilburne potting a fine goal for Canterbury. Wellington was beaten sensationally by 58 to 8 in 1926, and in the same year a record score tha* should stand for many years was put up when the Bay beat Wairarapa by 77 points to 14. But the following year the decline had set in, and Cooke, now playing for Wairarapa, was instrumental in taking the shield from Hawke’s Bay on June 3. 1927. The score was 15 to 11 in Wairarapa’s favour. A few weeks later Hawke’s Bay regained the shield, but lost it on a protest against the playing of Barclay. Later Manawhenua gained the shield, losing it in turn to Canter-

bury, who lost it again to Wairarapa in the following year. Auckland and Hawke's Bay nave both defended the shield 25 times it' all. but Hawke’s Bay's scoring record is peerless, 721 points for. and 219 against. Auckland scored 392 points against 115. In individual scoring it. shield matches, B. Grenside is an easy first. He scored 132 points for Hawke’s Bay during the shield period. Mark Nicholls is next, with 73 points, Blake (Hawke’s Bay) 66, and Xepia 62. J. Duftv, Auckland’s great goal kick, scored 49 points in shield matches while the shield was here, and J. O’Leary (43), R. McGee (38). G. Murray (30) and J. V. Macky (29) were other prolifis scorers for his province. Auckland hopes to make a great bid for the shield tomorrow. Quaintly enough. E. McKenzie, Selector for the team that now holds the shield, was referee in the match which cost Auckland the shield away back in 1913. Per-

haps the genial “Ted” has what is called a "hoodoo” or Indian sign, over Auckland teams. But the tear:, tomorrow may be able to rise superior to even that handicap. Anyway, here’s hoping. —J.G.M.