ITM Cup hotty of the week

Frazier Climo!

age:  26

position:  wing

team:  Taranaki

The Ranfurly Shield explained

(also published on Pink Rugby)

The Ranfurly Shield.  The Shield.  The Log o’ Wood.   Whatever you want to call it, the Ranfurly Shield is a HUGE deal in provincial rugby in New Zealand.

You may have heard of it, or this could be your first time hearing about it.  If you are in the latter group, chances are you are NOT a New Zealander, so I encourage you to read on and learn all about this magical wooden, shield shaped token of rugby awesomeness.

Waikato with the Ranfurly Shield

The Ranfurly Shield dates back to 1904 (making it 109 years old), and it was gifted to the NZRFU by the Governor of New Zealand – the Earl of Ranfurly – hence the name.  The Ranfurly Shield is based on a challenge system with the union who holds the Shield at the start of the season, facing a series of seven challenges during the ITM Cup/Heartland Championship season.  Each home game that the union holding the Shield (at the start of the season) has, is a Shield challenge – and each of those games is a winner takes all affair – the winner of course, taking the Shield.  The Ranfurly Shield can NOT be contested during the semi-finals or final.

Sounds confusing, kind of is, but here is the way things stand at the moment.

Waikato currently hold the Shield, after taking it off Taranaki in 2012
(In the ITM Cup pre-season, Waikato did have two shield defenses against Heartland Championship teams, but realistically, those games are never going to end any way but the Shield holder defending the shield by a huge margin, still it’s a great honour for those Heartland Championship (3^rd division) teams)
Considering Waikato don’t lose any of them, the following games will be Ranfurly Shield defences:

• 17 August – vs Northland
• 23 August  – vs Otago
• 14 September – vs Auckland
• 27 September – vs Wellington
• 12 October – vs Taranaki

HOWEVER, lets just say Northland beat Waikato on 17 August, Northland would become the Shield holders and their remaining home games would be Ranfurly Shield defenses:

• 24 August – vs Southland
• 8 September – vs Wellington
• 26 September – vs Tasman
• 9 October – vs Otago

Technically the Ranfurly Shield could be held by 6 teams in one season (8 if you include the pre-season games against Heartland Championship teams), but most seasons it only changes hands once, if at all.

Because I love statistics (when they relate to rugby anyway), here are some Ranfurly Shielstistics

Top 5 unions who held and defended the mighty Log o’ Wood?

• #1 – Auckland, held 16 times & 148 defenses
• #2 – Canterbury, held 14 times & 129 defenses
• #3 – Wellington, held 10 times & 40 defenses
• #4 – Waikato, held 9 times & 48 defenses
• #5 – Southland, held 7 times & 22 defenses

Last 5 unions to hold the Shield

• 22 October 2009 – Southland (won off Canterbury)
• 9 October 2010 – Canterbury
• 23 July 2011 – Southland
• 24 August 2011 – Taranaki
• 3 October 2012 – Waikato

Longest time in possession of the Shield

• Auckland, (8y4d) 14^th September 1985–18^th  September 1993

Shortest time in possession of the Shield

• Waikato, (8 days) 24^th August 2007-1^st September 2007

(won off North Harbour, lost to Canterbury)

First ever union to hold the Shield

• Wellington, 6^th August 1904-26^th August 1905

(lost to Auckland afer 4 defenses)

And finally, in the all important battle between the North Island and South Island…

• North Island – 11 unions from the North have won the Shield
• South Island – 5 unions from the South have won the Shield

There you have it.  Now when you hear mention of the Ranfurly Shield, you will know precisely what the commentators/reporters/men at the pub are talking about, and perhaps you can even impress them with your knowledge of Shieltistics!

The ITM Cup explained

(also published on Pink Rugby)

While rugby fans in Australia are having to make do with the Rugby Championship or watching previously recorded games, New Zealand rugby fans are lucky enough to have two months of provincial rugby to watch, in the form of the ITM Cup.  Formerly called the NPC (National Provincial Championship), the ITM Cup is – as the original name suggests – New Zealand’s provincial rugby championship.  Some believe it is playing in the ITM Cup that gives New Zealand rugby players that extra bit of experience that seems to make them dominate on the rugby field.
So, you may find yourself asking, how does the ITM Cup work?  It only takes a one year course at your closest university to understand all the ins and outs of the ITM Cup, but to make it a little easier for all of you, I shall sum it up and save you all the effort.
Here goes…

• The ITM Cup consists of TWO professional divisions, each consisting of seven teams.  The Premiership is the top division, with the Championship being the second division
• For those who don’t make the All Blacks, the ITM Cup is what Super Rugby players do after the SuperXV is over for the season.  It also provides those players a chance to impress the All Blacks coaches, ahead of the traditional All Blacks end of year tour to Europe
• All teams play all other teams in their division, and to make things a little more confusing each team also plays four of the teams from the other division, for a total of NINE games each.

Canterbury celebrating after their 2012 win

The teams in the Premiership division for 2013 are:

• Canterbury
• Auckland
• Wellington
• Taranaki
• Waikato
• Bay of Plenty
• Counties-Manukau

The teams in the Championship division for 2013 are:

• Hawke’s Bay
• Otago
• Tasman
• Southland
• Northland
• Manawatu
• North Harbour

At the end of the regular season are the semi-finals and final.
In the semi-finals:

• the top four teams from the Premiership play against each other (1^st v 4^th, 2^nd v 3^rd)
• the top four teams from the Championship play against each other (again 1^st v 4^th, 2^nd v 3^rd)

In the finals:

• the winners of each of the Premiership semi-finals play each other
• the winners of each of the Championship semi-finals play each other

After the finals:

• the team who finishes LAST in the Premiership division is automatically relegated to the Championship division for the next years ITM Cup
• the team who WINS the Championship final is automatically promoted to the Premiership division for the next years ITM Cup

Increasingly, Australian players are being permitted to cross the Tasman and play in the ITM Cup.  Most have familial connections to New Zealand.
Some Australian Super Rugby franchise players & ex players taking part in the 2013 ITM Cup are:

• Ged Robinson (Rebels – Hawke’s Bay, staying in NZ for 2014)
• Paul Alo-Emile (Rebels – Waikato)
• Nic Stirzaker (Rebels – Manawatu)
• Alby Mathewson (Force – Hawke’s Bay)
• Mark Swanepoel (Brumbies – Tasman)
• Mick Snowden (Force – Waikato)
• Kimami Sitauti (Rebels – Bay of Plenty)
• Robbie Abel (Brumbies – Northland)
• Ben Seymour (formerly of the Force -  Northland)
• Tom Murday (Reds – Northland)
• Beau Robinson (Reds – Bay of Plenty)

There is also a third (amateur) division competition which is played at the same time as the ITM Cup, called the Heartland Championship.  The Heartland Championship is made up of smaller regional teams, who act as feeder teams for the larger (professional) provincial teams.

• The Heartland Championship teams play 8 games, so the teams don’t play every team

The teams in the Heartland Championship in 2013 are:

• Buller
• East Coast
• Horowhenua-Kapiti
• King Country
• Mid Canterbury
• North Otago
• Poverty Bay
• South Canterbury
• Thames Valley
• Wairarapa Bush
• Wanganui
• West Coast

The Heartland Championship teams play for two different cups

• the Meads Cup (named after ex-All Black, Colin Meads)
• the Lochore Cup (named after ex-All Black, Brian Lochore)

After week 8 the teams who are 1^st – 4^th  on the ladder, play off for the Meads Cup, and the teams who are 5^th – 8^th play off for the Lochore Cup.  As with the ITM Cup semi-finals, in the Heartland Championship semi-finals for each cup 1^st plays 4^th, 2^nd plays 3^rd and the winner of each game plays against the other winning team, in the final.
Unlike the ITM Cup structure, there is no promotion/relegation in the Heartland Championship.
So there you have it.  The ITM Cup & Heartland Championship, in a nutshell!  Perhaps next time I can try and explain the Ranfurly Shield…