Rugby: 56 Years and " Down Town " Tony Brown's boys bring The Log O' Wood home.

Appropriately the  Otago Daily Times reports

                                                             The Log O' Wood

Rugby: Heart got side home - Brown

Otago Tama Tuirirangi, Paul Grant, Tony Brown, with the Ranfurly Shield after winning it off Waikato 23 aug 2013 PHOTOSPORT

Heart. That is what won the Ranfurly Shield for Otago last night, coach Tony Brown said.

''It was just all heart from the guys,'' he said.

''It is an unbelievable feeling. I can't actually realise we have knocked it off. It has been 56 years and there have been so many teams that have gone before us, so many close games.

I can't remember the number of times I have watched the TV listened to the radio and hoped for this day. The Ranfurly Shield is the NZ provincial rugbys equivalent of the British football's FA cup. Andrew Buchanan  an old friend went fairly close to mental on Facebook last night.  

Andrew Buchanan
19 hours ago
This is the greatest moment of my life. Jimbo, Kerrence, SHJ, et al. This is for all those moments when I cried, banged my head against walls, swore at strangers. Fuck, the whole goddamn shebang. It's Speights O'clock and I've no-one to share it with.

Iain Stewart
Fairly sure I could swing you the security job if the ODT decides to do get
photoed with the shield.
Like · Reply · 19 hours ago via mobile

Andrew Buchanan
Mate, there's a memory I love to share with folk. By the way, two weeks ago I was a mascot at the All Blacks' games at the Hutt Recreation Ground. Remember those hungover O'Daily mornings?
Like · 19 hours ago

A blue and gold touch couldn't resist it. 

I have witnessed more than a few of those "I cried, banged my head against walls, swore at strangers " moments. It is Andrew's birthday today but I doubt any present will come close to the one Down Town's  boys delivered yesterday. Hopefully he has got that out of his system now.  Actually I don't recall any swearing at strangers moments but there might be a reason for that as Andrew alludes in his reply to me.  

                                                             House of Pain Carisbrook. 

My one regret is that The Log O' Wood will not be defended at the House of Pain Carisbrook. 

''It is just an awesome feeling.

''The guys just went out and played for the entire 80 minutes. They went out there and put their bodies on the line.''

Brown said Otago had to stick to its patterns throughout the match.

Otago home matches at the " Brook " when Tony Brown was playing as opposed to coaching were referred to as " A party at Tony Brown's place. That it was Tony Brown an Otago Local that coached this team makes the victory even more special.

''We were all about performance in the match. We knew what we had to do to win the match and we knew it would take a massive, massive effort to win the game.''He told the team at halftime to keep doing its job, and keep knocking Waikato over.

The Ranfurly Shield is won ( and lost ) on a challenge basis, all home matches in the regular season are challenges so we will have four defences left this season assuming we can win the first three. 

He paid credit to his forward pack and the inside backs of Fumiaki Tanaka, Hayden Parker and Peter Breen.

''They just play so tough, do the right things to put us in the right places on the field. They are the three smallest guys on the field but are great competitors.''

Otago assistant coach Phil Young said it was something of a surreal moment.

A bit of Shield History I had no idea it was originally designed as a football trophy.

In 1901 the Governor of New Zealand, the Earl of Ranfurly, announced that he would present a cup to the New Zealand Rugby Football Union, to be used as the prize in a competition of their choosing. When the trophy, which actually turned out to be a shield, arrived, the NZRFU decided that it would be awarded to the union with the best record in the 1902 season, and thenceforth be the subject of a challenge system. Auckland, unbeaten in 1902, were presented with the shield. The shield was also designed as a trophy for football, not rugby. This was because the picture in the centrepiece was a football one. The picture was modified by adding goal posts on the football goal that comprised the picture, to create a rugby scene.

''For me, it has been so long as a player and as a coach. I never thought this day would come,'' Young said.

''It's pretty emotional, really. They are a great bunch of lads who will fight for each other... we said to them at halftime if me and Tony [Brown] have to come out at full time and pick you up and bring you back inside we'll do it.

''It was a total team effort. Everyone gave it their all.''

A great day, today I wish I was in Dunedin I guess that is a feeling many Otagoites are struggling with. It is ironic to think that we are Rugby's IDP ( Internally Displaced People ) a subject this blog often deals with.