''Welcome Home, Mr Brown's Boys'' a large banner in the departure lounge read.
The arrival of the team, and its precious cargo, was delayed by two hours, after fog prevented a scheduled flight from Hamilton and it had to travel by bus to Auckland for an alternative flight.
A huge roar greeted the appearance of captain Paul Grant as he entered the arrival lounge at 4pm holding aloft the Log o' Wood.
But the biggest cheer was for coach and former Otago player Tony Brown, who engineered the recapture of the shield after 56 long years.
''We heard there might be a few people coming out to meet us at the airport, but we didn't expect anything like this,'' Brown said.
''It's incredible. What an atmosphere.''
There were tears and expressions of joy at the sight of the elusive trophy.
Former Otago Rugby Football Union president Graeme Renton (73), whose grandson Josh Renton is the Otago reserve halfback, was a schoolboy at King Edward Technical College when Otago last held the shield.
''I was there when we lost it to Taranaki in 1957,'' he recalled.
''To finally bring it back is great and it's really great for the boys. Hopefully, it will do Otago rugby a lot of good.''
Most of the crowd had not yet been born the last time the shield was in Otago hands.
''I've been waiting all my life for this. I'm just so happy. I've got tears in my eyes,'' 50-year-old Otago stalwart Dean Hohaia said.
Even the airport staff joined in the fun, with runway staff dressed in blue and yellow overalls and the baggage carts decorated with cardboard shields and an unfortunate ''Ranfurly Sheild'' sign.
Young and old rejoiced as the shield was passed hand to hand around the crowd.
''This is great to see. It shows the immense pride in our province,'' Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull said.
After signing autographs and posing for photographs for an hour, the victorious Otago players finally managed to board their bus.
However, there was an unscheduled stop at the Dunedin welcome sign, near Allanton, to greet 14 university students dressed in tutus who had staged a victory dance on top of it.
