North Otago vs South Canterbury

North Otago and South Canterbury will meet in the 123rd encounter between the two unions when the two sides face each other in the first round of the Meads Cup at Whitestone Contracting stadium on Saturday.

The first match played in 1927 was a six all draw played in Oamaru but South Canterbury went on to win five of the next six matches with North Otago’s first win coming in the same year in the third game between the two sides played incidentally in Waimate.

The North Otago team on that auspicious day was F Boroman, F Mansfield, J Grainger, A McKerrow, C A Ogilvie, H P Kent, K McDonald, W D Cameron, A Campbell,A Sim, A Clark, J Pringle, S Wills, W Cleland and J Hopley.

But the years leading up to World War Two were lean ones for North Otago with South Canterbury winning 19 of the 24 matches played and  North Otago four with one match drawn. North Otago however won both games in 1939, 17-11 and 8-6 before  games were suspended until 1946.

South Canterbury won that first game after the war,21-0 and the next game played in Timaru was the first game for the Hanan shield which had been presented by the former mayor of Timaru, Mr Hanan earlier that year won by South Canterbury, 9-6.

South Canterbury repelled challenges from Mid Canterbury then known  as Ashburton County until the second game in 1948 when North Otago brought the Shield to Oamaru with a 3-0 victory in Oamaru courtesy of a penalty goal from Jack Halvorsen.

The North Otago team that day was Halvorsen, Pop Kilgour,Arthur Berry, Garth Johnson, Ted Collins, Pat Mckone, Ian Campbell, Phil Wilkie, Stan Mosely, Ron Twaddle, Colin Sheppard, John Millin, Harry Meehan, Ian McGregor and John Buzan.

The fifties saw North Otago win only five of the 17 games played with one drawn.

Early in the sixties North Otago had three challenges all lost before at the Show-grounds in 1963 North Otago regained the Hanan Shield for the first time since 1953.

The sixties saw South Canterbury win 13 of the 20 games played although one of North Otago’s sevens wins saw the Hanan Shield return to Oamaru in 1966 with a  14-11 win over South Canterbury at the Showgrounds.

The next two and a half decades sorely tested the resilience of North Otago.It lost both games against South Canterbury in 1970 and had a win and a draw in 1971 before South Canterbury dominated, winning the next 29 games on the trot before in 1997 the worm turned and North Otago under Peter Cook and Greg Shipton won and in doing show brought the Hanan Shield back for the first time in 31 years.

North Otago has had the better of the last 13 years winning 14 of the 17 games played although two of those South Canterbury victories were vital ones. In 2001 after North Otago had carried all before it in Third division rugby, it could not carry that form into the final with South Canterbury winning 20-16.

North Otago then won the next nine matches but last season South Canterbury came south and handed North Otago a 26-22 defeat.

Overall in the 182 matches played between the two Unions  South Canterbury has won 82, North Otago 35 with five games drawn.

This season in Heartland rugby South Canterbury will be aiming for a second shot at the Meads Cup semi finals after last season losing to Mid Canterbury in the semi final 19-17 after South Canterbury had dominated before a late penalty carried Mid Canterbury into the final.

The 2010 season has seen South Canterbury finish third in Pool A with 17 points which places it fifth in the Meads Cup playoffs where it will meet North Otago, Mid Canterbury and Poverty Bay over the next three weekends.

South Canterbury won four of its five games in pool play losing to Wanganui 6-13 but gaining a bonus point. However it may be of concern for the South Canterbury supporters that in its four winning performances it has been unable to score four tries for a winning bonus point. Loan player , first five eighth Jason Merrett has scored 62 of South Canterbury’s 107 points from 16 penalties and seven conversions, possibly an indication of its territorial dominance in many of its games but also a reflection on its lack of penetration with the ball in hand.

There has always been a bit of a love/hate relationship between the two unions but the two unions have proved that in todays pressure for players a combined competition early this century seemed to be an ideal way to strengthen clubs in both unions it was unfortunately discarded five or so years ago. But currently discussions are being held between the two unions to ascertain whether a form of a combined competition could be held in the 2011 season. It has been suggested that the top four North Otago clubs play in a competition with the top four South Canterbury clubs and the bottom four, in North Otago’s case the remaining two senior clubs plus Athletic Marist Colts and Valley 2nd XV play in the lower division. Hopefully both unions can agree because it would revitalise the club competition in both unions.