Counties Manukau Win the Ranfurly Shield!

In the most thrilling Ranfurly Shield season in years, the challenger has yet again won the right to drink lots of beer and hoist the famous Log of Wood around its neighbourhood - for the 3rd time this season which is above the average!

Indeed, at this rate, they may need a new shield as there won't be enough room on the trophy to write down the number of holders of the shield this season - Waikato, Otago, Hawkes Bay and now Counties Manukau.

If there was any doubt about the relevance of the Ranfurly Shield in today's society, that has well been doused, and buried 50 m in the ground now especially with two of the last holders having ended long droughts without the Shield (Otago at 56 years, Hawkes Bay at 44), and one of the last holders a new name to the Shield.

Beaver was a Counties boy before moving down south to Mooloo country

Yes, Counties Manukau may have been around for just 2 years more than the number of years Dunedin didn't see the Shield, and produced many of New Zealand rugby's household names, e.g. Duncan Robertson, Joeli Vildiri, Jonah Lomu, Sitiveni Sivivatu, Stephen Donald, Kieran Read, Leila Masaga and Frank Halai.

However, when it came to the Shield, the team which encompasses some of the roughest parts of South Auckland (Papatoetoe, Papakura & Manurewa), and the farmland between metropolitan Auckland and the Bombays (Pokeno, Mercer, Pukekohe, Hunua Rangers), had no heritage whatsover. They had had plenty of Shield challenges but never really came close to getting their hands on the log of wood.

So on Saturday afternoon, when Tana Umaga's men arrived in Napier for their latest Ranfurly Shield challenge on the back of just one win in the last 3 games, Counties fans were hopeful rather than expectant about a win for their side even if they played competitively.

But against a top Hawkes Bay side, they muscled up front and a scintillating performance by Sherwin Stowers was a great response to the form showed by the Bay's Ihaia West in attack. Stowers was unplayable on the day and even with Counties down 24-17 with 10 minutes left on the clock, having blown a chance of closing the gap not too long ago by going for a scrum that went completely awry, you knew that there was still plenty of time for Counties to win the game.

And they did. And what a boost it'll be for the most impoverished part of New Zealand (Manukau) and the most forgotten part of New Zealand (Franklin counties).

Now it's up to them to end the curse that has befallen the defenders of the shield this year. Next up, Taranaki.

But for now, it's better to have loved, than never have loved at all as Otago and Hawkes Bay fans will say!

Enjoy it while it lasts Counties!