What it means! The haka Tika Tonu takes a thrashing after the Magpies won the Ranfurly Shield against Otago on October 4. Photo / Peter McIntosh ODT
What it means! The haka Tika Tonu takes a thrashing after the Magpies won the Ranfurly Shield against Otago on October 4. Photo / Peter McIntosh ODT
ODT051020ASH.JPG Skipper Ash Dixon raises the Shield aloft after beating Otago. Photo / Otago Daily Times
The Ranfurly Shield will continue to have its day in the sun over summer.
But for now, the Log o' Wood will take a back seat as the Magpies chase rugby's Championship prize.
AfterSunday's third consecutive shield defence, a 34-18 win over Wellington at McLean Park, Napier, union CEO Jay Campbell said Magpies players had learnt what it means to the community since the 28-9 win which claimed the Shield from Otago in Dunedin on October 4.
The near 120-years-old timber shield, affectionately known as the Log o' Wood, has been taken around schools, hospitals, retirement villages and rest homes, workplaces, and rugby clubs.
It has been received as warmly as in any of Hawke's Bay's past six Shield reigns, including the six-day glimpse in 2013 when Hawke's Bay won it for the first time in 44 years and lost it within a week.
"It's always pretty cool to see the effect it has on some of these people, and for the players to see and feel what it means," Campbell said.
"It's so great to have it back in the home of the Ranfurly Shield."
Skipper Ash Dixon holds the Shield aloft after the Magpies beat Otago. Photo / Otago Daily Times
"We are already inundated with requests and we'll try to take it (the Shield) to as many places as possible over the next eight months," he said.
But the Shield will firstly take a back seat as Hawke's Bay zeroes-in on its first championship prize since 2015, when it beat Wellington 26-25 in a Mitre 10 Cup championship division final, winning promotion to the Premiership where they lasted just one season before being relegated.
After a poor record of just two wins in 10 matches in 2017, the Bay was beaten 20-19 by Otago in a semifinal the next season and 12-7 by Bay of Plenty in the final last year.
Sunday's win took the Magpies to the top of the championship division and guaranteed a home semifinal, with still one preliminary match to play against Taranaki in Inglewood on Sunday.
The nearest challengers are Otago, who play Premier competition leader Tasman on Saturday.
The Magpies' semifinal, on Friday or Saturday November 20 or 21, will most likely be against Taranaki or Northland.
The process of deciding Shield defences for next season is still several months away, although it is expected to be on the line in all five home competition matches.
The Magpies have established some readiness for the task, having in 2020 recorded a rare treble of wins over teams from the four main centres, including a first win over Canterbury since 1982.
