gutsy counties beat waikato to reatin the ranfurly sheild

The Ranfurly Shield magic lives on in Pukekohe.
  Counties Manukau ensured their tenure with the prized trophy lasts until at least the final round of the ITM Cup with a 37-25 bonus-point win over Waikato on Saturday afternoon.

If surviving their first season in the top flight wasn't enough motivation for Counties Manukau to have a good season, then the side's Ranfurly Shield tenure has sparked a revival that has swept the region.

The hosts' attack looked at its unpredictable best in broken play while their defence held firm despite patches of real pressure from the Waikato pack early in the first half.

Despite opening the scoring, Waikato barely looked in the game. They made charges to the line on a number of occasions and scored three tries in the process. But thoughts of going full circle and securing the Ranfurly Shield were left to only the most ardent of Waikato fans.

Counties Manukau were cheered on with a stirring war cry from the large crowd in attendance at ECOLight Stadium. The aural battle between Steelers supporters and cowbell-toting Waikato fans complemented what was a superb display of attacking rugby.

The bonus point win sees Counties Manukau establish a healthy nine-point buffer between themselves and Waikato for fourth spot in the Premiership, though Waikato have a match in hand.

Counties Manukau were made to hard for their first half lead, especially after Waikato were the first to score through Trent Renata after seven minutes.

Renata's try was just reward for Waikato, who enjoyed a period of dominance in the opening 10 minutes and looked confident following their emphatic 42-24 victory over a previously unbeaten Auckland a week earlier.

The remaining 30 minutes belonged to the hosts, however, as they dined on some lacklustre defence in midfield en route to scoring twice through their Super Rugby-laden backline.

Fullback Sherwin Stowers ran a brilliant line from the back of a short pass from Augustine Pulu to put the Ranfurly Shield defenders in the lead.

That lead was extended when Pulu darted from the back of a ruck to score a try that ensured Counties Manukau held a 17-8 lead.

Renata kicked the second of his two penalties to reduce the margin to six before Baden Kerr secured his second penalty of the afternoon to restore the advantage to 20-11.

Counties Manukau scored the opening points of the second half through No.8 Fritz Lee, who showed superb athleticism to dive over the line and extend the lead to 16 points.

Waikato refused to roll over, however, and were back within a converted try after some Tim Mikkelson brilliance set up a try eventually scored by flanker Rory Grice.

Waikato were soon in again through first five-eighths Sam Christie and when Renata converted the deficit was cut to 25-30.

But Counties Manukau held their nerve and responded almost immediately through wing Toni Pulu to restore a healthy 37-25 advantage.

Waikato replacement prop Paul Alo-Emile was yellow carded minutes later to compound Waikato's frustrations with 15 minutes to play before Augustine Pulu was yellow carded with minutes remaining.

The Shield will remain in the region until the final match of the season, when they do battle against a Southland side desperate to restore some pride to the province come Round 9.

Counties Manukau 37 (Sherwin Stowers, Augustine Pulu, Fritz Lee, Toni Pulu tries; Baden Kerr 4 con, 3 pen) Waikato 25 (Trent Renata, Rory Grice, Sam Christie tries, Renata 2 con, 2 pen) HT: 20-11

big congrats to the steelers, i thought for sure they were going to lose the ranfurly shield to waikato. was very pleasantly surprised to see umagas boys come through in the end.

only wanted the steelrs to win cos southland are next in line and the last for 2013 to challenge for NZs favourite log of wood and im making plans to go over for a long weekend in three weeks time, :o)

i dont like the way ranfurly challenges are done, some teams like waikato get two cracks at the sheild, while others dont even a get a shot at all, had waikato won the shield again, southland would of had to wait til next year.

only ever seen one ranfurly shiled match with southland, it was when SBW was playing for canterbury, my brother and i flew over to watch them as we were convinced that was the last time southland would ever be ranfurly sheild champs, lolz, :oP

so time to go cheer for the boys and hope i dont jinx them, :o)

GO THE MIGHTY MIGHTY SOUTHLAND STAGS!!!

Sasu...Would'nt get my hopes up if i was you  - not a chance of Counties letting go of that log of wood now this year...sorry mate. 

Got right up close to the shield when it came to town the other day and I WAS HEALED!

Brycy and Sasuke, the log 'o wood is a fantastic rugby tradition, even if it isn't quite in the same league as our magnificent Currie Cup!

Come on Waikato!

 Brycy you were clearly not healed mentally so - try again? 

@brycy,

didnt peg u for a steelers man, thought u were one of the yokels baptised in the waikato river, lolz, :oP

stags will be clear underdogs, but for some reason i really fancy our chances against the steelers, i cant wait, :o)

@rooy,
its a nice stand alone rugby tradition within NZ thats for sure.

i still rate the CC as he No1 domestic comp in the world but IMO the matches in the ITM are better???
only watched a handful of full CC games though, and a good chunk of the ITM so my comment is biased, lolz :oP

as for that EPL fantasy league, i kind of buggered up, thought i enetered my team in time but i was  a few hours late.
not being a part of any leagues at the time i never followed up on it after that, so my team has been 5 weeks into the wilderness. pretty sure ive still got gareth bale in my team, o_O

anyway, long story short, im out for the 2013/2014 season with a case of brokenassnitis, and will instead be focusing on my brilliant fantasy rugby career, LMAO, :oD

Never heard of the Curry Cup. Sounds like another dumbarse cooking competition.

Sas.. when i played for Wesley College pretty much our whole team got picked to play for Counties. The schools crosscountry course gave us the edge and we were just super fit and thats what wins games.

Pity, because my Foxsport Fantasy Premiership Team is in the top 1% and I expect to improve because this week I have the likes of 2-assist Barkley, multi-save Mignolet as well as the likes of van Persie, Lamela and Soldado to come.

Come on you Spurs!

@brycy,

so ur wseley kid aye??? thats pretty impressive, like L&P theyre world famous in NZ.

never did get how counties is part of the chiefs franchise, when they should obviously be a blues feeder club/province, but meh either way, theyre not the canes or the landers, so no skin of mine.
but dont get too comfortable with umaga, wellingtons favourite son is coming back home to the hurricanes to right the wrongs of that cantab cockhead hammet.

@rooy,

top 1%, jeebers, o_O
its a good thing im not paying this year then, u would have given me a bad hiding. will be better prepared for it next year though, :oP

only really watch red devil matches, but i did watch more then a few spurs games last year just to watch bale, for a rugger mad nation, the welshies cna produce some insane soccer talent.

im going to get the new influx of kiwis here to have a crack at testrugby fantasy next year, the numbers will make it all the more fun. :o)

u and i are doing all right in the RC/4nats on the testrugby front, but we need to pull finger in foxpsort, the top three in particular are starting to pull away from the rest of us, o_O

Sharkbok must be time for yr nanny nap ..

Sas...Waikato is Tainui tribal area which goes all the way to Mangere Bridge. Thats where the last Tainui marae is so makes sense from a tribal persective for Counties to be a feeder club for the Mighty Chiefs even though we're in South Auckland.

Often there is a tug of war for the Counties boys and players are split between joining the Blues or the Chiefs as there is an overlap between franchises.

@sharkie,

dont be a page hogger, resize ur pic so that i can bore other saffas please, LMAO, :oD

and stop procrastinating, kate upton and i are still waiting, i would like more specific details about that so called willie le roux almost try too, a time framne will be more then sufficent.

if ur so bored, i wonder why ur having so much trouble sparing less then 10 minutes to watch and back some of ur comments.

hmmmmmmmmm, one might think there is a lack of substance in those comments amd kates not easily impressed by men with a lack of substance and i dont blame her, :o/

LMAO!!!
 

@brycy,

thats a nice bit of info i didnt know, is that why the steelers are infact a feeder for the chiefs??? i just thought that it was cos back in the days auckland didnt need as amny feeder clubs as the rest of the country.

tribal issues not withstanding, i always had that errrrrrrrrrr, pftttt bloody jafas mentality, lolz.

but at least ur not rugby bipolar like me, born in welington and raised in inverveags, sees me being a stags man during the ITM and a hurricanes during the spXV with the landetrs a close second, how annoying that both are thre only two NZ clubs to not win a super rugby title, a heatache that the ranfurly shield will go along way to healing with its healing properties, :oP

come on stags, lets bend those steelers and bring the shield back home, :o)

Sas.. lot of Canes supporters want Tana back and it's only a matter of time before he 's coaching the Canes now he's cut his teeth with Counties.

As long as he does'nt take too many of our boys with him, i'm all for the Canes returning to a power in Super rugby and kicking some yarpy butt.

@brycy,

umaga will have the boys winning thie rfirst title in year one just like chiefs guru rennie did.

only hope nonus still around then, cos umaga has always been the top dog with the samoan boys.

chiefs got plenty of players, so theyre going to be fine, but its time for cruden to come back home and SBW owes alot to umaga too, nothing says thanx like playing for an umaga led spXV team.

Sas... Crudz is part of the Chiefs whanau now sorry mate...

We'd love to have Papakura boy Kieren Reid back as well but as the song goes "you cant always get what you want "...

Looking at how Wellington are playing they have enough talent anyway. The ITM Cup is virtually in the bag.

@brycy,

bloody cheifs and crusaders steal everybody in NZ, the whitelock boys, dagg, taumafuina, elliot, guilford, they should all be playing for the canes, O_O

weve got barret though so no worries about crudz, until carter retires and then watch the saders try an get their grubby hands on barret.

come on umaga, we need u tto be the hurricanes coach now and stop the pillaging from the chiefs and crusader bullies.