66 years on: Footage emerges of famous Ranfurly Shield win
Features of the game are the speed and untidiness of the scrums, the superb crash-tackling of Watson Archer and Kevin Laidlaw in the centres.
Lynn McConnell is a former Southland Times sports editor and long-time New Zealand sports journalist.
Ever wondered what that Ranfurly Shield win by Southland over Taranaki in 1959 looked like?
Southland, coached by former All Black Ron Ward, took the game to the Shield holders, who had 14 wins in their tenure, in New Plymouth with an outstanding forward effort to claim a 23-9 win.
Thanks to sterling work done by former Southlander Owen Eastwood with Nga Taonga, the New Zealand Film Archive, nearly 20 minutes of action from the game, in colour can be seen at this link.
There is some doubling up in filming, and it is worth waiting until the end to see the tries Southland scored.
No 8 Ack Soper, wings Ray Todd and Johnny Allison, and second five-eighths Watson Archer scored tries for Southland, with fullback Lloyd Ashby adding the rest with his boot.
To get an appreciation of the magnitude of Southland's win, under modern scoring, Southland would have won 32-6.
Features of the game are the speed, and untidiness, of the scrums, the superb crash-tackling of Watson Archer and Kevin Laidlaw in the centres, and the proximity of the Southland pack to the ball throughout the game. (Note: there is no audio in the footage).
This article was originally published on Lynn McConnell’s Silver Fern Sport Substack and published by The Southland Tribune by permission.
I was nearly 9yr old and remember it well as our Nightcaps Hero,was K.F.Laidlaw.Can anyone give me the names of full team.I think that there may have been another Nightcaps player in squad. Of course, in those days,no subs unless you broke an arm or leg...LOL
They played with commitment, the days before we had excuses for everything.