Historic Lionic mauling

I’ve done this graph to show the magnitude of Jamie Joseph’s team’s achievement in winning the Shield in Auckland.

(Mind you, as you can see, the 27-0 mauling the Lions gave Auckland on Saturday is still ten short of the 37-point hammering Wellington got the last  time the two teams met in a Shield challenge at the same ground fifteen years ago.)

Remarkably, it was only the second time Wellington has ever lifted the Shield at Eden Park. The other time was in 1963, when victory was by the more sober margin of 8-3.

Wellington have won two other Ranfurly Shield matches in Auckland. But not at Eden Park. And only one of those was a challenge.

26 years, 27-0!

They scored a point for every year it’s been gone - plus one for luck.

Tonight’s 27-0 shutout of Auckland was the biggest win by any Wellington Shield challenger in the 104 year history of the Log o’ Wood.

During the Great Black-and-Golden Shield Era of 1981-82 (yeah right), I paid a high price for waiting five games to get into the Shield spirit.

The first challenge I watched at Athletic Park turned out to be the last for a generation. 

To put it in perspective, my eldest son, who arrived three years after the Log’s departure, has had to wait until adulthood to have a chance to experience the otherprovincely phenomenon known as Shield Fever.

(Not that you give a stuff about rugby, eh Mike?)