Ranfurly Shield: Man behind restoration says splitting new Log o’ Wood would take ‘one hell of a drop’

Hawke's Bay celebrating with the Shield in the changing sheds after their victory over Wellington on Saturday. Photo / photosport.nz

A man behind the last decade of major repairs and restorations of the Ranfurly Shield says it would have taken “one hell of a drop” to split the new Log o’ Wood in half.

The famous trophy was broken during celebrations less than 24 hours after the Magpies beat Wellington 20-18 on Saturday to regain the Shield.

Pictures and video shared through social media show the broken Shield and white powder in lines on it at one point.

Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union chief executive Jay Campbell said the damage was caused when a player dropped the Shield on a concrete kitchen floor, which he described as a “genuine accident”.

New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is investigating the incidents.

James Dwan and his company Tri-Peek have been involved with the Shield’s restoration and repairs over recent years, including the replacement of the badges in 2012 and the most recent major restoration this year, which replaced the original piece of wood with a new solid piece of oak.

Dwan told Hawke’s Bay Today he was sick of the careless treatment of the rugby taonga and called for a fulltime guardian to be responsible for the Shield.

Dwan said he had been getting lots of calls since news that the Shield had been broken got out and, although he had not seen pictures of the damage himself yet, he was “absolutely gutted”.

“When I got the first phone call yesterday I was like ‘you’ve got to be kidding me! They’ve only had it for a day’,” Dwan said.

“Every time the Shield is [refurbished], it just gets abused. They’ve lost the respect for what the Shield was or should be.”

An image was shared with what appears to be a white powder on the broken Ranfurly Shield.

He said the new version of the Shield was three to four times thicker than the original and was made of a single piece of oak rather than more than one piece like the original.

Dwan said that meant it would require a lot of force to break.

“That thing is about four times heavier than the original one because of the thickness and the size. It is actually about 40mm wider and 40mm longer than [it was before the last major restoration].

“That is one hell of a drop.”

He said they had given recommendations to rugby unions about how the Shield should be looked after before.

“I remember when I first did it a few years ago, we did a complete restoration, new shields, the whole lot on it.

“I remember the Waikato coach at the time was saying ‘How do we keep it like this?’ and I just said ‘Don’t let a rugby player get near it, easy as that’.

“We’ve got to get back to the stage where you have it on the ground after you win it, you get your photos and that sort of thing and for god’s sake, don’t take it back to the bloody dressing room.”

He said he would like to see the appointment of a “guardian of the Shield”, a responsible person who was always present wherever the shield was taken.

He said he hasn’t been approached yet about getting the Shield fixed.

“I don’t think they’d be too happy to ring me up to tell me what they’ve done to it.”

James Pocock joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2021 and writes breaking news and features, with a focus on environment, local government and post-cyclone issues in the region. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives in Napier. Email james.pocock@nzme.co.nz.