Mayor’s column: Fins up for Shield challenge
Nick Smith, Nelson Mayor. Photo: File.
This Saturday night our Tasman Mako will attempt to make rugby history with their Ranfurly Shield challenge against the Hawke’s Bay Magpies at McLean Park in Napier.
Nelson is the home of NZ rugby with the first game played at our Botanical Gardens in May 1870. Nelson Rugby Club is NZ’s oldest. However, we have never won the ‘Log o’ Wood’ since Lord Ranfurly donated the shield as NZ’s premier domestic trophy in 1902.
Marlborough famously won the shield in 1973 and defended it for six challenges. It was a visionary decision to merge the Nelson Bays and Marlborough Rugby Unions into the Tasman Rugby Union in 2005. I used to get excited when we beat provinces our size. The Mako now regularly beat the giants of NZ rugby such as Auckland and Canterbury. They won the NPC premiership in 2019 and 2020. This success has been hugely helped by major sponsors such as Nelson Pine and NBS.
The Mako have made a stunning start to this season beating Manawatu 54-21, Canterbury 22-7, Counties Manukau 48-3 and last Saturday, Bay of Plenty by 34-15. The Magpies have also started well with four straight wins over Southland, Northland, Canterbury and Manawatu. We had a shield challenge against Hawke’s Bay last season but fell short by 34-22. It will be an epic battle this Saturday. We wish our Mako Captain Quinten Strange, coach Gray Cornelius and the team every success.
The Mako’s winning streak has been matched by the Nelson College First XV. In June, they won the Quadrangular Tournament. In August, they won the Miles Toyota secondary school’s competition for the Crusaders’ region. They subsequently beat Southland Boys’ High to become South Island champions and secured the Moascar Cup, the oldest and most prestigious nationwide rugby trophy. Congrats to Captain Harry Inch, Coach Jono Phillips, all the team and their sponsor Gibbons Group. We wish them every success for their tilt at the national title this weekend in Palmerston North
Nelson rugby is on a roll. Fins Up for the Mako bringing the Log o’ Wood home to the birthplace of NZ rugby.