Film of Shield win emerges after 66 years

Southland v Taranaki 1959

Ever wondered what that Ranfurly Shield win by Southland over Taranaki in 1959 looked like?

Southland captain Robin Archer (right) and team manager Ness Polson with the Ranfurly Shield after the post-game handover in New Plymouth in 1959. (Photo, Bruce Dawson)

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.

No8 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),