Southland seeking a sixth victory

Press, 4 July 1985, Page 22

Southland seeking a sixth victory

Southland has won -the Ranfurly Shield five times, and it has the distinction of being the first South Island union to get its hands on the trophy. This was back in 1920 when it beat Wellington, 176, in the last game that season. However, it survived only one challenge the next year, from Otago, before Wellington came and took the shield back. The 1920 challenge was Southland’s second, the first, in 1914, was against Taranaki and the bid failed, 6-0. Hawke’s Bay was the holder when Southland made its third challenge in 1925 and although Southland was well beaten at 31-12 the game does have a claim to fame. The great Maurice Brownlie was at the height of his career for Hawke’s Bay and in the Southland scrum was a brawny 19-year-old by the name of Bill Hazlett. At one point Hazlett, apparently, did something untoward to Brownlie, something which prompted the referee, Bill Meredith, of Auckland, to stop the game and admonish Hazlett thus: “Now then, Hazlett, you leave Mr Brownlie alone.” The remark was leaked to the press and the line was immortalised in a lengthy poem that was later printed in a national paper. The last line of each verse was “and (or but) you leave MISTER Brownlie alone.” In its next challenge, in 1929, Southland captured the shield from Wairarapa in a major upset, so much so, in fact, that officials of the holding union had not even thought it necessary to take the shield from Masterton to the playing ground at Carterton. A hurried trip had to be made at the game’s end. In its warm-up match Southland had been beaten by nearly 30 points by Wellington and because of travel difficulties it had to make the challenge without three of its leading players, one of them being Bill Hazlett. Southland was not required to defend the shield until 1930 and it did so three times before Wellington became the new holder with a 12-3 win. The heavy ground that day was expected to favour Southland, but it was Wellington which handled the conditions better and this game also marked the last occasion that Mark Nicholls and Bert Cooke, the two great backs of the 19205, played together. There were four unsuccessful challenges through the early and mid-1980s, including an 8-3 loss to Canterbury in 1935, before Southland won the shield for the third time in 1937. In the only shield game played that year it beat Otago, 12-7. Otago got it back in the first challenge of 1938, but Southland got its revenge in the return match and it was to be nine years before the log was to leave Invercargill. Southland withstood two challenges in the latter part of 1938 and nine in 1939 before the advent of World War II put paid to shield rugby for a while. A challenge from Manawatu in 1939 is notable for the fact that it was played in inches of snow. Southland resisted all the five challenges it accepted when games resumed in 1946, but the next year Otago was first in line and with two tries to its captain, Ron Elvidge, Otago regained the trophy, 17-11. This win was to start a

great shield tenure by Otago, one which was to last until 1950 and take in 18 games Southland had a challenge in each of these years, and although it went close twice in games that •are inevitably described as “stirring forward battles” it could not steal another march on its neighbour. In 1953 Southland made an unsuccessful challenge against Wellington, and there were others in 1954 and 1956 when the holder was Canterbury. The 1954 game began promisingly when Southland led 10-0 after only eight minutes. But eventually the powerful Canterbury pack ground out an 18-10 victory. But in 1959 Southland was to pull off its greatest shield coup, and possibly the greatest in the history of the trophy. It was given no chance whatsoever against a Taranaki side which had been running up some superb wins over strong opponents. However, Southland not only won, but did so in glorious style to the tune of 23-6. It beat Taranaki at its own forward game, with

men like Ack Soper, Kevin Laidlaw (now the Southland coach) and Watson Archer playing games that have made them Southland legends. For Southlanders at the time, though, the joy was shortlived. Two weeks later the shield was on its way back to the North Island, Auckland beginning what was to be its record-break-ing run of 25 defences with a 13-9 win.

Still, it was Southland which gave Auckland one of its biggest frights in this four-year reign. In 1961 it failed only 9-6 in a challenge which some Auckland players rate as the most torrid they faced. In 1965 Southland came close again. It was 6-0 up on Taranaki and there were visions of 1959 all over again. However, Taranaki escaped with a 6-6 draw, thanks to a dropped goal by Ross Brown. After clear losses, to Hawkes Bay in 1967 and Canterbury in 1970, Southland had the disappointment of another draw in 1976.

This was a 9-9 result against Auckland, which was starting to succumb to the pressures of two years of shield football. And while Southland could not really be considered unlucky that day it did enough to pave the way for Manawatu to become the new holder a week later. Southland got a crack at Manawatu the following year, but failed and since then it has done no better in challenges against Auckland (1980) and Canterbury (1983). Canterbury supporters, will quickly recall the ’B3 game. Canterbury led 15-0 after 20 minutes, but early in the second half Southland had narrowed the gap to 1510 and there were some real fears for the holder when its hooker, John Mills, was ordered from the field. However, as sometimes happens, the loss of a player lifted Canterbury to fresh heights and it mounted a bold finish to win, 28-10.