Canterbury players revel in Ranfurly Shield win

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/The Press

BACK HOME: Canterbury's Richie McCaw and fans with the Ranfurly Shield at Christchurch airport.

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The Ranfurly Shield returned to Canterbury yesterday slightly stained and sticky, but clearly having lost none of its lustre in the eyes of the new holders.

After thrashing Wellington 36-14 in Saturday night's challenge at Westpac Stadium, the Canterbury players sprayed and drank their sponsor's product in equal measure.

As the music blared in the dressing room, they all wanted a picture taken of themselves with the shield.

Many of the players had been in the team that beat Wellington at the same ground in last year's Air New Zealand Cup final, but the scenes of joy that night were nothing compared with Saturday's atmosphere.

"It's an amazing feeling, I'm sort of lost for words really," captain George Whitelock said.

"Unbelievable," said prop Peter Borlase.

"Brilliant," said lock James Broadhurst.

Everywhere you looked in the dressing shed there were clusters of players laughing, drinking, shouting or singing. However, all had their eyes trained on the progress of the shield as it made its way around the room.

"There's been a lot of excitement. The Ranfurly Shield still means a lot to these fellas," said All Blacks captain and Canterbury loose forward Richie McCaw, who had just won it for the first time.

Canterbury had produced a stunning display of rugby to secure the hallowed Log o' Wood for the twelfth time.

Up 26-0 at halftime, they led 36-0 with six minutes to go before the home side scored two converted tries. "We played really positive rugby and it paid off and it's such a good feeling," first five-eighth Daniel Carter said.

"These opportunities don't come around that often so you've got to make the most of it, and we did that tonight."

After a long and enthusiastic evening of celebrating, the team arrived back in Christchurch yesterday to a warm reception at the airport, with 200 fans on hand to welcome them.

As is the tradition, the shield was in the hands of the reserve prop, who assumes the role of official "minder" for the duration of the tenure.

That meant the honour of presenting it to the crowd fell to one of the least-known players in the squad, Andrew "Ox" Olorenshaw.

The shield does not go on the line this weekend, with Canterbury facing an away clash with Bay of Plenty at Mount Maunganui. Its first defence will be against Otago at AMI Stadium on September 12.

- © Fairfax NZ News