RugbyRebels

So this weekend the Real Stuff starts - proper provincial rugby.

Waikato are taking the Ranfurly Shield on the road to:
Thames Valley (6 June)
King Country (30 July)
Wanganui (6 August) - mandatory challenge as Meads Cup champion

Thames Valley Swamp Foxes still post their training schedule on their website so the players know what's going on, which as all you need to know about the likely result there.

Tempted to drive down to the King Country to support them in their Shield challenge.

I'll be passing through Paeroa on the 6th but need to be back in Auckland before kick-off unfortunately

Lizard wrote:So this weekend the Real Stuff starts - proper provincial rugby.

Waikato are taking the Ranfurly Shield on the road to:
Thames Valley (6 June)
King Country (30 July)
Wanganui (6 August) - mandatory challenge as Meads Cup champion

Thames Valley Swamp Foxes still post their training schedule on their website so the players know what's going on, which as all you need to know about the likely result there.

Gee, brave stuff! I think only Wellington has ever taken it on tour to other first division provinces. In fact, they took it to several after WWI. The Auckland shamateurs of the late 80s & early 90s, who just about killed off interest in the trophy by keeping it for so long, didn't take it to any first division provinces. What a terrific gesture it would've been if they'd returned Wellington's favor and taken it to the capital during that era! They'd probably still have won, since Wellington was still stuck in the amateur stone-age with all its star players heading off to league, but even that was too big a risk for them. Well, personally, I lost interest in the Shield back then and it has never been revived.

The Wellington plebs should've been grateful that the world champions occasionally graced them with their presence during the NPC. Bloody bureaucrats.

I think Auckland would have comfortably beaten the Wellington amateurs in such a fixture back then, even at Athletic Park, but it would have certainly filled the stadium and provided the WRU with a much-needed financial shot in the arm. By the time the shamateur era belatedly came to an end with the onset of legitimized professionalism, empty stadiums had become par for the course all over the country, even Auckland itself, and most notably in Wellington. But when approached on the issue of their excessively lengthy Shield-tenure becoming detrimental to the welfare of the sport nationwide, ARU officials merely replied that the Log was a useful 'money-spinner' for their union. Nice

I believe that the NZRU now pretty much mandates that the holder takes the Shield to 3 "Heartland" provinces for pre-season challenges. You can't blame Waikato for picking its near neighbours alongside the mandatory challenger.

I'm not sure you're right about empty stadia in the mid-late 90s. That certainly wasn't the case for Shield defences in Hamilton.

Guest wrote:I believe that the NZRU now pretty much mandates that the holder takes the Shield to 3 "Heartland" provinces for pre-season challenges. You can't blame Waikato for picking its near neighbours alongside the mandatory challenger.

I'm not sure you're right about empty stadia in the mid-late 90s. That certainly wasn't the case for Shield defences in Hamilton.

This is Lizahd. His keyboard is haunted.

WTF is going on here then?

I believe that the NZRU now pretty much mandates that the holder takes the Shield to 3 "Heartland" provinces for pre-season challenges. You can't blame Waikato for picking its near neighbours alongside the mandatory challenger.



Thanks. Wasn't aware of that. Fair enough then.


I'm not sure you're right about empty stadia in the mid-late 90s. That certainly wasn't the case for Shield defences in Hamilton.

Well, I was covering the game for the press back then, and attended many a first class match in an almost barren Millard Stand. Auckland's attendances certainly dwindled toward the end of its protracted tenure, with the exception of the odd major clash with the likes of Canterbury or cross-town rivals North Harbour.

Waikato did even better than expected, running out 83-13 winners.

Not bad considering their opposition once beat Australian with only 14 men on the field.