Two narrow misses in 10 attempts

Press, 5 October 1984, Page 18

Two narrow misses in 10 attempts

Bay of Plenty’s main claim to rugby fame is that it was the first province to win the division one title, when the national championship was introduced in 1976.

It might also be remembered as the only team, outside of the tests, to score more tries than it conceded against the 1971 Lions, one of the best attacking sides to have visited New Zealand.

Since Bay of Plenty was established as a union in 1911 it has made only 10 challenges for the Ranfurly Shield, and all have ended in failure. If it does have a claim to shield fame it would be that it came close to bringing early ends to what were to become the two longest tenures.

Bay of Plenty made its first challenge against Wellington in 1920 and was well beaten, 22-3. Two years later it faced Hawke’s Bay, which had taken the trophy from Wellington. Hawke’s Bay was in the early stages of putting together probably the best shield side ever and it was to be five years and 24 successful defences before Wairarapa was to end the reign.

However, in the first of the 24, Bay of Plenty came very close. It scored a try beside the posts right on time to trail, 17-16. The conversion, and a win, seemed a mere formality, but after some indecision as to who should take the kick the ball was given to the half-back, a man by the name Noel Boucher.

His nerves apparently got the better of him and in what must have been an amazing scene he lined up the kick a number of times with his team-mates close at hand offering advice. He not only missed the kick, but he very nearly missed the ball altogether. It is interesting to wonder how differently provincial rugby, and more especially shield rugby, would have been through the 1920 s if that kick had gone over. It was a time when top players moved about quite a bit and Hawke’s Bay might not have recruited so many champions without the. shield as bait.

Almost 30 years passed before Bay of Plenty received another challenge. It was in 1951 and the holder was North Auckland. Each side scored three tries and North Auckland got home, 16-12, on goal kicks. Later that season Waikato took the shield from North Auckland and Bay of Plenty

was one of the four challenges accepted by Waikato. This time Bay of Plenty was well beaten, 32-10. By 1953 Waikato had lost and recaptured the shield and Bay of Plenty received another chance to topple Mooloo. It fared no better, though, losing this time, 193.

It was in 1960 that Bay of Plenty came close to striking its second major blow. The holder was Auckland and Bay of Plenty was second up in a list of challenges that in 1963 was to reach a record 25. There was a try apiece and it was a penalty goal by Mike Cormack that gave Auckland its 6-3 victory.

Bay of Plenty had another crabk at Auckland 1962, but Auckland had come a long way by then and it won easily, 29-6. Since then Bay of Plenty has made three challenges. In 1968 it was beaten 14-0 by Hawke’s Bay, and this was not one of Hawke’s Bay’s better performances and, on the strength of its game against the Lions the previous year it was given some chance against North Auckland in 1972.

Ken Going was playing his one hundredth game for North Auckland that day, and to mark the occasion he made it his best ever. North Auckland won 22-6, with Going contributing 14 points. However, it was the most recent challenge, against Waikato in 1981, that was seen as Bay of Plenty’s best chance to finally get its hands on the shield.

With players like Greg Rowlands, Eddie Stokes, Frank Shelford, Kevin Eveleigh and Hika Reid (all All Blacks), and others such as Mark Basham, Graeme Elvin and Ron Preston, the Bay had a strong team. Other good omens for Bay of Plenty were that Waikato had not beaten it in their previous seven games and just a week before the challenge Bay of Plenty had sensationally toppled the national champion, Manawatu. At half-time the scores were level at 3-3 and it was all Bay of Plenty in the early stages of the second spell. But a number of scoring chances were missed and gradually Waikato turned the play and it finished strongly to win, 13-3.