Cool Canterbury keep to their game plan

You didn't need to be at Jade Stadium itself to experience the atmosphere when Waikato challenged Canterbury for rugby's famed log of wood, the Ranfurly Shield, on Saturday night.
Even watching on television you could feel all that emotion and tension when this coveted trophy is up for grabs.
I happened to watch the game in the company of two Waikato supporters and they got increasingly excited as the men from Moolooland threatened to take the Shield back to Hamilton.
But as so often occurs when Canterbury teams are playing they keep their best to last and a strong last quarter got them home.
Love them or hate them you have to admire the Cantabs don't you?
Here they were without many of their All Blacks and they were still good enough to turn back a Waikato team which came up with a top notch performance themselves.
The great strength of Canterbury sides is their ability to stay calm and collected under pressure.
Saturday night's game was certainly clear evidence of that.
At various stages of the match when Waikato looked on the verge of taking control there was no sign of panic in the Canterbury ranks.
In situations like that many teams - I would say most teams - tend to let excitement rule the head and start throwing 50-50 passes, invariably with poor results.
Canterbury don't do that.
They simply stick to their game plan and, more often than not, they eventually come out on the right side of the ledger.
No matter who they are between Ranfurly Shield games will always have that extra aura about them but isn't it a pity that lower graded sides on the national scene like our own Wairarapa-Bush find it almost impossible to even challenge for the trophy these days.
Problem is that teams in whichever NPC division the holders play are always more likely to have a shot at the Shield and the Wairarapa-Bush's are probably never going to have first division status again, are they?
To me it is a huge shame that the Shield has become something of a closed shop..
Ranfurly Shield history is full of stories where teams never given a chance of winning a challenge match actually return home to a heroes welcome.
It's the old story, isn't it, of having to be in to win, and even the Canterburys can have off days.
Sadly rugby is becoming more and more elitist as the years go by.
And, even more sadly, the Ranfurly Shield is now part of that elitism.