Wellington defeated holder Auckland 27-0 to take the shield to the capital for the first time in 26 years, scoring four tries in a convincing win.
Wellington is steered off the field by two former Otago players, head coach Jamie Joseph and his assistant, Andre Bell, with Bell saying yesterday that loss to Canterbury in 1994 was mentioned during the Wellington team talk on Saturday afternoon as the way not to play.
"We talked about it in the pre-match preparation.
"That way you've got to go out and keep attacking and play the whole game," Bell said.
Bell and Joseph were both involved in the heart-breaking 1994 challenge, when Otago got out to an early lead, but was caught by Canterbury, with Andrew Mehrtens kicking a last-minute penalty for a 22-20 win.
"We had to attack. In that game against Canterbury we got out to a lead but then we sat back and started playing defensively.
"That is what a lot of teams do, sit back and all of a sudden the other team is back in it.
"But we stressed not to do that.
"Get out there and attack for the whole game."
Bell said they were instilling some work ethics - including the dreaded down-and-ups exercises - into the Wellington side, learned when they both played for Otago.
"The guys are saying to us how these are the hardest trainings they've ever had.
"We look at each other and think `we did these all the time under Gordie Hunter'."
Jamie Joseph joined his father, Jim, as a log o' wood winner, although the achievement was tinged with the realisation his dad will not be around long to share his boy's success.
Jim Joseph remains on oxygen at Blenheim Hospital as he wages a losing battle with terminal lung cancer.
Mention of Jim's plight prompted Jamie to calmly contemplate what the win over Auckland meant for his father.
"I'm pretty happy for Dad; he'll be proud," Joseph said, referring to a mentor who was part of Marlborough's historic shield-lifting team in Christchurch in 1973.
The rugged prop also played for New Zealand Maori and, although it was Jamie who advanced to the All Blacks, Jim has gently taunted his son with reminders he had not won the shield.
"When I was a player he never let me forget I hadn't won it," said Joseph, who endured four failed bids in the 1990s with Otago.
Joseph remembered little of Marlborough's solitary tenure with the shield, though appreciated how the trophy could galvanise a community.
"I grew up as a young fella in a small town, and when Marlborough won that shield it pretty much took over the whole province.
"I still have memories of going into the butcher shop and getting a free steak `because your Dad won the Ranfurly Shield'.
"It was pretty special."
Joseph has been commuting weekly to Blenheim to visit Jim, and he said his head coaching role with the Air New Zealand Cup leader was a welcome diversion.
"In a way rugby has saved me because it's taken my mind off the emotion of Dad."
Joseph, meanwhile, suggested his father's loyalty stretched only so far.
With more than 150 games under his belt for Marlborough, Joseph senior would love Tasman to lift the log on Saturday before the struggling union is axed from the top flight.
"If he could have his way, Tasman would beat us then they would disband and the shield could stay in Blenheim for the rest of its days."
