North Canterbury rugby team win Southbridge Shield for first time in four years

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from Northern Outlook

The Southbridge Shield – the symbol of supremacy in Canterbury Country representative rugby – is back on the northern side of the Waimakariri River.

North Canterbury beat Ellesmere 13-0 at Lincoln on Saturday in the first ‘Battle of the Bridge’ match for three years.

“There were some pretty happy boys in the North Canterbury team,’’ head coach Matt Keane said.

“North Canterbury last won it in 2018 then lost it in 2019 and that was the last time it was played because of Covid.

“We were primed up for it last year but then the week before they stopped club rugby and we didn’t get the chance.’’

North Canterbury’s winning team at Lincoln included several players from the champion 2018 side, notably captain Josh Maynard, lock Willie Kerr and midfield back Mike Keane – the coach’s brother.

Maynard, the veteran Saracens No 8, received the maximum three points in the player of the match poll, with young Hurunui lock Flynn Crean getting two points, and Glenmark-Cheviot’s Mike Keane one.

Kerr, a Saracens loose forward for much of his career, packed down in the second row with Crean.

“We wanted to be quite mobile around the track,’’ coach Keane said. “The way scrummaging is today we didn’t think it was important to have that big tighthead lock, and we wanted to have two really great options in the lineout and use Willy’s experience.’’

North Canterbury now also have a clutch of talented young players, with Keane noting nine newcomers made debuts this season after 16 earned their first senior spurs in 2021.

He predicted bright futures for many of them, including Crean, who could go on to higher honours once he “has another 10 to 15 kilos on”.

“He’s got a massive ticker, and he’s already hard to put down [as a ball carrier].’’

Young Ashley wing Matt Couch, who is still eligible for the Colts under-21 grade, also impressed in all four senior outings this term.

The North Canterbury squad were able to channel the disappointment of having a proposed September tour of Japan postponed into the Southbridge Shield fixture.

Keane said they made a great start with tries to prop Rawiri Karena and Mike Keane for a 10-0 lead in the first quarter.

But Ellesmere applied more pressure at the breakdown in the middle stages, earning key penalties and restricting North Canterbury’s phases.

“But we got close in the last 20 two or three times,’’ Keane said. “They held us up on the line and we had a couple of dropped balls when we thought we had them.’’

Scott Allin kicked a penalty on the stroke of fulltime to extend the winning margin to 13 points.

Keane said it was encouraging to keep Ellesmere scoreless because North Canterbury’s defence – “we like to call it our attack without the ball’’ – had been disappointing in earlier matches against a Cantabrians XV and a Waitaha Canterbury Māori side.

The victory capped a memorable rugby year for North Canterbury with Glenmark-Cheviot beating Saracens in the first all-North Canterbury Combined Country club grand final.

Keane said North Canterbury rugby was working hard to close the gap “on the big boys in town’’ from the Christchurch Metro competition.

“And Ellesmere like to treat us like the little brother, so it’s nice to get them,’’ he quipped.

The North Canterbury representative team for the Southbridge Shield win over Ellesmere:
Harry Murray, Digby Heard, Matt Jensen, Mike Keane, Matt Couch, Corrigan Harnett, Jordie Gray, Josh Maynard (capt), Dan Brooker, Andrew Hull, Willie Kerr, Flynn Crean, Josh Duckworth, Louis James, Rawiri Karena. Reserves: Ryan Clark, Zach Andrews, Hayden O’Donnell, George Fox, Ben Gold, Matt Roberts, Scott Allin.

Other results:
North Canterbury teams won four of the other five grades against Ellesmere opposition.
North Canterbury Stags 36 Ellesmere 15.
Ellesmere Colts 33 North Canterbury 28.
North Canterbury 18s 22 Ellesmere 17.
North Canterbury 16s 22 Ellesmere 19.