My 10 favourite moments from the 2013 Otago Ranfurly Shield reign. - Phil Young's range of emotions in the coaches' box as the clock ticked down. From tension to utter joy, Young encapsulated the feelings of a province.
- Hayden Parker's smudged face as he lined up another goal. He looks like the boy next door but he is a special player.
- Paul Grant's roar of delight as he lifted the shield. Provided the perfect front-page photo.
- Talking to Strath Taieri stalwarts Barry Williams and Stephen Barnes. Few Otago fans witnessed the game live, but those chaps and their mates will never regret the investment.
- Fumiaki Tanaka. He sings, he smiles, he bows, he peeks cheekily out of the window of a children's playhouse.
- My son's reaction when the shield visited his school. Eli was disappointed it wasn't the Chiefs Otago vanquished - close enough, son - but he still got very excited.
- The photo of the shield in the old changing room at soon-to-be-demolished Carisbrook. That was lovely.
- The message from the Whakatane Beacon newspaper, saying they were keen for anything we had on Tom Franklin. Whakatane is about 1000km away, but a link is a link.
- Our contribution. The Otago Daily Times has enjoyed this ride as much as you, and we're proud of our intensive shield coverage.
- The feelgood factor for a province that needed something. The shield doesn't save lives, safeguard jobs or bring perfect weather. But it's still very special.. . .
fever . . .
We know sport at the top level is all about winning.
Ticket sales, sponsorship, public support, national media attention, job security - all are driven by results.
Win, and there will be no complaints. You can fill your team with imports, invent a nickname or wear a green jersey. All irrelevant, as long as you win.
BUT there is no doubt that extra pleasure can be taken in a winning team like Otago when so many of its players hail from with the province.
This is the most homegrown Otago rugby team in donkey's years. Partly, this was forced upon the union by its brush with financial implosion, but it is a good thing. The days of over-paying for mediocre imports are, blessedly, over.
Grant, Tony Ensor and Lee Allan (Balclutha), Jayden Spence (Alexandra), Peter Breen (Oamaru), Michael Collins (Queenstown), Scott Manson (Cromwell), Parker (Kurow) and Charlie O'Connell (Middlemarch) are all from the heartland.
Josh Renton and Craig Millar went to Otago Boys' High School, and Kieran Moffat went to St Kevin's College.
Others - Gareth Evans, TJ Ioane, Liam Coltman and the like - are from further north but have all spent multiple seasons in the Dunedin club rugby system.
. . . is rife
Another local, of course, is coach Tony Brown, the Kaitangata Kid.
What's left to say? I wondered if Brown was the right choice for the job last year. His coaching experience seemed limited, and he had barely finished his playing career.
But, with the help of widely-respected assistant Young, Brown has calmly and confidently built a squad that plays with spirit and courage. In other words, a classic Otago rugby team.
Let Ben play
He's had a big year.
He had an All Black test last week - during which, incidentally, he cemented his status as the most lethal finisher in world rugby right now - and he has another one next week.
But I am sure Ben Smith, the greatest Otago rugby player of his generation, would give ANYTHING to be allowed to play in the shield game tomorrow.
Too late to text Shag and ask for an exemption?
Changing hands
Former Otago winger Ray Bell contacted The Last Word to clarify a letter to the editor published on Thursday.
It referenced the 1950 season, and Canterbury taking the Ranfurly Shield off Wellington, only to lose it to Wairarapa three days later.
Bell points out (correctly, if regretfully) that Canterbury actually took the shield off Otago that year, winning 8-0 at Carisbrook on August 16.
Canterbury did indeed immediately drop the shield to Wairarapa (3-0), but it was 17 days later.
Interestingly, Wairarapa then immediately lost the shield to South Canterbury (17-14), and South Canterbury immediately lost the shield to North Auckland (20-9).
Rugby writer extraordinaire
And how about a round of applause for Otago Daily Times rugby writer Steve Hepburn, who did what Dudley Manning, Brent Edwards and that wastrel Hayden Meikle could not, and delivered a Ranfurly Shield to Otago.
Steve, in his understated style, was chuffed to be there in Hamilton last Friday night, and his words the next day and the days that followed helped our newspaper celebrate the achievement.
The former Kaikorai Valley First XV and Zingari-Richmond first five-eighth (50 premier games) didn't stop with the Ranfurly Shield. He was also in Wellington 24 hours later to see the All Blacks retain the Bledisloe Cup.
That's a fair sort of double.
What, no Oamaru?
The one - the ONE - minor discordant note in an otherwise utterly incredible sporting week for this great province was an omission from the itinerary of the Great Ranfurly Shield Tour.
More than one of my North Otago brethren noted the shield was not making its way to their part of the province.
I was disappointed, too. So I asked Otago rugby boss Richard Kinley, who acknowledged it would have been nice to get the shield to the north, but pointed out there were only so many hours in the week, and the priority had to be the regions that make up the Otago union.
Fingers crossed the shield will hang around for a while, so it can be taken to Kurow and Weston and Maheno and Waitaki Boys' and every Meikle who wants to see it.
Expensive footballer
It still beggars belief that Welsh footballer Gareth Bale is going from Tottenham to Real Madrid for a figure of around 100 million. A joke doing the rounds is that for the price of one Gareth Bale, you could buy:
Three Ronaldinhos (the former Brazilian star who, as the best player in the world, went to Barcelona 10 years ago for 30 million).
2,180,000 copies of the Fifa 13 video game.
46,612 Spurs season tickets.
524 trips to space.
The prodigy
A 6-year-old Welsh boy has become the star of his village cricket team, the BBC website reports.
Harrison Parsons, from Abercarn, near Newport, plays in the men's league despite ''being not much bigger than a cricket pad''.
The lad scored 24 runs in a recent game, trumping father and team-mate Jeremy, who only posted 15.
''They thought it was a just a bit of fun when I went out to bat with Harrison,'' the father told reporters.
''I've not been able to live it down since. I've been getting a lot of stick but I'm really proud of him. I'd like to say he takes after his dad but he's a lot better than I was at his age.''
Birthday of the week
Otago's Ranfurly Shield reign is seven (and a bit) days old today. Long may it continue.
