West Coast's 'short game' shield challenge

The almost men: Members of the 1932 West Coast rugby team that challenged Canterbury for the Ranfurly Shield.

Canterbury had successfully seen off four challenges since lifting the shield from Wellington the season before and West Coast was not expected to cut their tenure short. In the end Canterbury only just held on for a narrow 5–3 victory. The game ended in controversy when with West Coast hot on attack the referee misread his watch and blew for fulltime five minutes early. While there were accusations of dishonesty, the stoic Coasters accepted that an honest mistake had been made.