Northland secure the Ranfurly Shield for the first time in almost 50 years

Northland are partying like it’s 1978.

For the first time in 48 years, the Taniwha have won the Ranfurly Shield.

They put in an inspired performance under the roof in Christchurch to stun Canterbury 36-12.

Captain Rivez Reihana, who plays his Super Rugby for the Crusaders, was one of the many standout players for Northland, and was emotional after getting his hands on the Log o’ Wood.

“We spoke about at the start of the week we wanted to inspire the next generation,” Reihana said on Sky Sport.

“And the only way that we were going to do that was to bring back the Shield, so hopefully we’ve done that.”

There were a decent smattering of Taniwha supporters as another strong crowd turned up to Te Kaha on Thursday night.

Loose-forward Rob Rush, son of New Zealand Sevens legend Eric Rush who was watching in the stands, played like a man possessed, scoring two tries and making a mountain of tackles in a player of the match performance.

Canterbury’s record 18th tenure with the Shield is also their shortest, lasting just 11 days and one successful defence against Bay of Plenty.

But Northland were just far too good.

Their scrum dominated for most of the night while their backline, led by experienced halfback Sam Nock and first-five Reihana, were able to cause the red ‘n blacks problems all night.

And party all night the Taniwha can, and will, with their first defence not for ten days against Tasman in Whangarei on August 30th.