The Bay of Plenty ‘Steamers’ celebrate their first Ranfurly Shield win in 2004. They had just beaten Auckland 33–28.
Although Bay of Plenty lost its first 18 Ranfurly Shield challenges, there were some close calls over the years. In 1922 a missed conversion from virtually in front of the posts on full-time meant a 17–16 loss to Hawke’s Bay. In 1984 Bay of Plenty led Canterbury 10–0 before losing 18–13. Bay of Plenty thought prop Peter Kennedy had scored near the end of the match, but referee Geoff Smith disagreed. Television replays were inconclusive, and in any case there was no provision for referring decisions to them.
In 1996 long-suffering Bay of Plenty fans must have felt that they had at last broken their shield duck. With eight minutes to go, the now second division side led Auckland 29–11. Auckland clawed their way back into the match but with time almost up they still trailed by six points. Bay of Plenty had the feed to a scrum but conceded a tighthead and Matt Carrington (a product of Bay of Plenty) scored in the corner. When he landed the conversion from the sideline, Auckland had won an unlikely 30–29 victory.
In 2004 Bay of Plenty joined in the celebrations of the centenary of the first match for the Ranfurly Shield by at long last lifting the famous Log o’ Wood. Glen Jackson was in superb form as the Steamers took a 20–15 halftime lead, and his match haul of 23 points proved decisive in the 33–28 victory over Auckland. Wayne Ormond became the first Bay of Plenty captain to lift the shield in front of the hundreds of fans who had travelled from all over the region to watch the match. But shield success proved fleeting. Waikato was defeated in the first defence, but then Canterbury walked off with the prize 33–26.
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