Rugby: Log's also about bums on seat

Hawkes Bay Magpies Ranfurly shield celebration parade in Napier. Photo / Paul Taylor

Better to have won and lost then to have never done it and forever wondered what it must have felt like.

No one will appreciate that more than the Otago Razorbacks and their army of fans who predominantly invaded the Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin, last Sunday in the Ranfurly Shield rugby match against the Hawke's Bay Magpies.

Having broken the 56-year-old drought, coach Tony Brown's men would have taken some serious consoling after handing it back to their challengers, the Magpies, in their first defence in what was unquestionably brilliant footy right to the final whistle.

For what it's worth to the Southern men, the ignominy of going into the shield record books as the team to have held the Log o' Wood for the shortest time - that belongs officially to Wellington (1963) and Waikato (2007) - was never likely because they had held it for nine days before last Sunday's 20-19 victory to the Magpies.

What should forever inspire the Otago Rugby Union (ORU) was the response from the crowd for a proud province that was only last year in dire straits.

In the financial doldrums last year, the ORU were in for a timely fillip when the New Zealand Rugby Union bailed them out for three months to avoid liquidation.

A gob-smacking 20,000 spectators besieged the bubble-like covered stadium to back the Blue and Golds and, no doubt, the union's coffers will be in better health even though the visitors broke a 44-year hoodoo.

While it's a pity they didn't cling on to the shield, it's also imperative to note the Log o' Wood is also about passion and pride.

As that cash cow has moved to greener pastures here, it's safe to say not just the Hawke's Bay Rugby Football Union but the entire business community must be itching to milk that potentially lucrative beast.

But the shield, it seems, offers more than just moolah. It's an ideal opportunity for a region to establish a modicum of collectiveness, something that will perhaps be best reflected with the number of bums on seats at McLean Park, Napier, in the Magpies' first defence this Saturday at 4.35pm against Counties-Manukau.

It should champion an attitude of: "If Otago can call on 20,000 fans, surely we should be able to fill McLean Park to its capacity 19,000."

Humble in defeat, former Magpie and Bay winger Paul Cooke, of Hastings, takes his hat off to the Magpies in a humdinger of a match.

"The Magpies played rugby [after absorbing the early and late Razorbacks onslaught] so they wanted it more than Otago so good on them," Cooke says, keen to see them defend it for a while.

Pointing out the empty venues in ITM Cup rugby matches on TV before last Sunday's shield clash, Cooke says the log clashes have a propensity to create a magnetic effect on ground turnouts.

"Even if 15,000 watch the Magpies this weekend it'll be a great turnout for Hawke's Bay rugby," says the 46-year old, although he reveals he will opt to watch it on TV at home.

Perhaps the catalyst will be spurned Magpie, homeboy and former All Black hooker Hika Elliot who now dons Counties-Manukau colours.

Says Cookie: "Hika's got something to prove so it'll be something to look forward to."

Last night, Hika endorsed Cooke's sentiments on TV One News, well after I spoke with the Progressive Meats boner, so in some ways that encapsulates the mindset of a segment of the rugby faithful here, which should lend to a great atmosphere. The only certainty in shield matches is the uncertainty of winning or losing it sooner or later.

Shh ... just don't tell that to coach Tana Umaga and his men. Ex-All Blacks captain Umaga has never lifted the shield for Wellington and Counties-Manukau as a player nor as a coach for the latter union. Having silenced 21,000 Otago fans, the Magpies know all about the power of passion but by the same token they'll also be aware of a union itching to get its fingers on the log for the first time.