When it comes to good omens, Peter Breen sure got one last week.
Breen (24), who played a major hand in Otago's Ranfurly Shield victory over Waikato last Friday night, bagged a hole-in-one while playing golf two days before the challenge. He made the ace on the seventh hole at the Otago Golf Club at Balmacewen.
''We were up there playing with the sponsors and I was playing with Hayden Parker, Michael Collins and Paul Grant. When it went in, we thought 'this must be a good omen','' Breen said.
''It has been an amazing week. A real week to remember. I got my blazer for 15 games against Bay of Plenty on Sunday, then the hole-in-one and the shield. But the shield was the best.
''From a personal point of view, I probably did not understand what winning the shield meant to so many people. Just the emotion on all the faces and how excited everyone was.''
Breen (24) ended up at fullback on Friday night, when Tony Ensor went off injured, after starting the game at second five-eighth.
In the final 10 minutes of the game, he got a front-row seat from fullback as the Otago defence held to win the game and the prized Log o' Wood.
''I think it was something like 191 tackles to 70 in the game. The defensive effort was outstanding. It was great to watch. Guys just knocking them over, then getting up and doing it again. Our forwards were great.''
Breen has become a jack of all trades in the backline but is finding his feet well at this level, and his game has shown rapid improvement over the past 18 months.
''Last year was big for me, being part of the Otago side. Tony Brown really helped me a lot.
''He [Brown] can pretty much answer anything you want to know about playing five-eighth. He keeps things really simple and gives me a work-on every week so your head is not full of stuff.''
He played at second five-eighth when at Waitaki Boys' High School, and said he enjoyed the position. There was a lot of work defensively and he again turned to Brown for tackling technique in both the No10 and No12 jerseys.
Breen has signed on for Otago for another year, and said he was enjoying the Otago environment very much.
The team had Monday off after the weekend of celebrations, although players did some light exercise before a full training run yesterday.
Breen said the team had now put the celebrations behind it and was fully focused on beating Hawkes Bay on Sunday.
''We need to bring the same excitment and physicality to this game as we did last week against Waikato. If we can do that, we will give ourselves a good shot.''
The New Zealand Rugby Union has changed the referee for Sunday's game. Chris Pollock had been appointed to control the game but, under Ranfurly Shield rules, a neutral referee must be appointed. Pollock hails from Hawkes Bay and he has been replaced by Mike Fraser, who comes from Wellington.
Fraser refereed Otago's game against Bay of Plenty 10 days ago.
A Sassenachs invitation XV easily beat a Royal New Zealand Air Force team 72-28 at the University Oval yesterday.
The Sassenachs team was made up of a mixture of Otago players and colts players, and was also boosted by veterans such as Paul Miller.
Otago coach Tony Brown made an appearance, along with Otago assistant coach Kees Meeuws.
The two sides will meet again on Friday at the same venue.
The Air Force team is using the two games as practice for the combined services tournament next month.
