The shield was broken into two pieces in what has been described as "an accident" by the Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union after they lifted the "Log o’ Wood" following a 20-18 win over Wellington on Saturday.
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is investigating after an image was shared on social media of white powder on a half of the broken shield.
NZR community rugby general manager Steve Lancaster said NZR was not aware the white powder was drugs.
"We are aware of images that are in circulation but we don’t have any information or clarification about what has taken place, so we have launched an investigation to ascertain exactly what has gone on, but at this stage we’re at the very early stages of that.
NZR did ask Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union if drugs were involved.
Mr Lancaster said the response was there was "no awareness on anyone’s part of anything illicit taking place".
He said drug testing was an employment matter, so he would not disclose whether players had been drug-tested.
NZR had no plan to test the surface of the shield for the presence of drugs.
"That’s not something we’ve contemplated at this stage.
"I don’t know if that would be feasible or not, but [the shield] is making its way back to us at NZR now and we’ll determine the next steps once we’ve got our hands on it," Mr Lancaster said.
Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union chief executive Jay Campbell said the union was supporting the NZR investigation "as we work through what is fact and what is fiction".
"There is a lot of speculation out there and we just need to make sure that investigation goes through before we can confirm or comment [on drug use]," Mr Campbell said.
He said the shield was broken after being dropped on its point on a concrete floor.
NZR was "disappointed" to be faced with repairing the shield after restoring it in the past 12 months, but NZR did not want to lock it away, Mr Lancaster said.
"We were very deliberate in commissioning the restoration that the shield was put back into a condition where it was able to continue to circulate around our communities for another 100 years," he said.
"We will certainly have to re-evaluate what the protocols are around the shield."
Mr Lancaster said there were consequences for what had transpired at the weekend.
He cited a range of scenarios.
"Some of those are set out in the players’ collective employment agreement [and] we have relationship agreements with provincial unions, but we haven’t got that far down the track yet.
"At the moment we are just trying to re-establish what’s happened, what the damage is and what we need to do to put the shield right."
— Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union chief executive Jay Campbell yesterday said a player had been charged with drink-driving.
The player’s charge was unrelated to the events involving the shield, he said.
— RNZ
