Ranfurly Shield

For any Kiwis that read this section:

Last night Waikato beat Taranaki 46 - 10, which means the Ranfurly Shield now moves up to Hamilton.

Match report:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10838185

Taranaki were highly rated at the beginning of the season. A few people were picking them to win the whole thing but.... Anyway well done Waikato good for them to have something to take away from the season.

Are Taranaki out of the comp now? Michael Bent is signing for Leinster once his commitments in domestic rugby are done.

Both Bent and Goodman are likely to feature in the semis at least (on in 2 weeks)

Of the 14 teams in the comp, 8 of them end up in semis.

We are likely to need Goodman especially for our trip to Swansea on the 4th of November. No chance of that if they make the finals. Possible if they get knocked out in the semis (19th to the 21st)

Also. With midweek matches used in order to get the comp into a shorter time, they will probably be bollixt when they get here.

Taranaki, Wellington, Auckland and Canterbury are virtually guaranteed semis (Canty have a game in hand over the Mooloos in 5th) in the Premiership, and any one of the four could finish top of the league with 2 (3 for Canterbury) matches to play.


Meanwhile, this morning in Tasman (and Goodman) are virtually guaranteeing themselves a semi final in the Championship by beating Premiership team Bay of Plenty 17-3

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:Also. With midweek matches used in order to get the comp into a shorter time, they will probably be bollixt when they get here.

I can assure you they are going to be absolutely F....d, On average they are playing three games every 9 days, coaches have just given up on coaching, as coaching sessions are now physio/rehab sessions.

That's a slight exaggeration Auckland. They usually only have one game a week but 2/3 times during the tournament they have a midweek game as well. But it is a little too much I think.

Fo some reason I thought that you had to beat a team on their own ground to take the shield away from them. Was it ever thus?

LondonTiger wrote:Fo some reason I thought that you had to beat a team on their own ground to take the shield away from them. Was it ever thus?

It's generally always thus - home games in the ITM (excluding playoff matches) are automatic Shield defences for the holder, and the holder also accepts a number of pre-season challenges from other provinces. On rare occasions since the 1990s Auckland and Canterbury have "toured" the shield defending it away in pre-season games against Heartland (amateur) provinces.