Former Steamers lock Mark Sorenson is interviewed by producer Kelsen Butler for the 2004 Ranfurly Shield reunion documentary in Tauranga recently. Photo / Jamie Troughton, Dscribe Media
Former Steamers lock Mark Sorenson is interviewed by producer Kelsen Butler for the 2004 Ranfurly Shield reunion documentary in Tauranga recently. Photo / Jamie Troughton, Dscribe Media
Bay of Plenty’s greatest rugby triumph is to be commemorated in film - once again - as part of ongoing events celebrating 20 years since the province won the Ranfurly Shield.
A documentary crew has been catching up with players involved in the 2004 shield win, with a special preview screening to be held in Tauranga next week before being broadcast on Sky TV.
For SportsInc’s Kelsen Butler, who is producing Up for the challenge - the reunion, it’s particularly poignant.
The Whakatāne-raised Steamers fan also produced the original Up for the challenge documentary 20 years ago when he took a punt and shadowed the Bay of Plenty team for the week before their historic 33-28 win over Auckland at Eden Park.
”I’ve been a Bay tragic all my life and I just had the feeling there was something brewing in mid-August 2004, as the Steamers opened the NPC season with a shield challenge,” Butler said.
“I convinced the team at Sky TV to let me take a camera crew down for the week building up and the rest, as they say, is history.”
The Ranfurly Shield has been contested by New Zealand provincial teams since 1904 and Bay of Plenty’s first challenge was in 1922. The province had 18 unsuccessful attempts - often heartbreaking - before finally winning at the 19th.
”When I lifted the shield, all I could feel was all those ex-players,” 2004 Steamers captain Wayne Ormond said. “To lift it up on behalf of them was pretty special.”
These days, Ormond is farming near Tihoi on the western side of Lake Taupō after a stint playing and coaching in Japan.
Former Steamers captain Wayne Ormond is now farming near Taupō. Photo / Jamie Troughton, Dscribe Media
The former forestry worker was one of the talismanic leaders of the Steamers team during that golden period, helping the side finish fifth in the NPC in 2003 and go all the way to the semifinals in 2004, when then-coach Vern Cotter was joined by assistant Joe Schmidt.
Both have since gone on to glittering coaching heights - Cotter coaching Scotland and Fiji and Schmidt assisting Ian Foster with the All Blacks and now head coach of Australia.
Ormond describes them as the “yin and yang” - hard-nosed Cotter and clever tactician Schmidt - and said the 2004 side came in on the back of a breakthrough 2003 season when they not only survived but thrived.
”Confidence does go a long way and there was also some good recruitment from Vern in 2003, and by the time 2004 rolled around, those guys that had been brought in really felt a part of the Bay. But we also had the balance of old-school players, like Paul Tupai and Damon Kaui, like Glen Jackson, and I’d been there a few years by then too. Bringing Joe in added a dimension to the group.”
Schmidt, one of a number of Bay of Plenty rugby identities interviewed for the upcoming documentary, said the week after the shield victory was one of his finest memories in rugby.
Former Steamers captain Wayne Ormond reflects on some of the coverage of the 2004 Ranfurly Shield win. Photo / Jamie Troughton, Dscribe Media
“There was joy for the public but probably consternation for me and VC (Cotter) trying to find the boys for the first few days,” Schmidt laughed.
“You had to go on a thread of text messages to try and find which bar they were in and I think we only got one training in before the following Saturday.
“It was a short turnaround before defending against Waikato and there was a bit of pressure, in that we didn’t want to have the shortest shield tenure ever, after having finally won it. But that was fantastic. It was pretty special.
Wallabies coach and former Steamers assistant coach Joe Schmidt being interviewed for the 2004 Ranfurly Shield reunion documentary last week. Photo / Jamie Troughton, Dscribe Media
Recently, many of the players attended a reunion during the Bay of Plenty-Taranaki match in Tauranga, organised largely by former lock Mark Sorenson and former coach, and now Tauranga City Councillor, Kevin Schuler.
Ironically, Taranaki will hold the shield this coming summer after beating holders Tasman 42-29 last weekend.
Former All Black Adrian Cashmore, a key figure in the 2004 side, knows more about the shield than most, having played for Auckland during one of their great tenures in the 1990s before returning to his home province.
”I haven’t seen some of these guys for nearly 20 years and it’s great to be back together, telling the same old war stories and same old jokes,” Cashmore said.
“It was really cool to win it with Auckland and be involved there but to win it with the Bay was one of my best memories. The significance of it grows over the years too, as you get older, and you realise how these moments don’t come around very often, especially since Bay of Plenty hasn’t been able to grab it again since.
”Many of the 2004 players and management staff will attend the preview screening at Bayleys Tauranga next Tuesday, with Bayleys, iLine Construction and Carrus Corporation helping fund the documentary as gold sponsors.”
Former All Black and Bay of Plenty fullback Adrian Cashmore (right) and veteran fitness training guru Keith Roberts at the Ranfurly Shield-winning reunion in Tauranga recently. Photo / Jamie Troughton, Dscribe Media
Butler said being able to follow up his original 2004 production has been an amazing experience.
”The legend of that 2004 team hasn’t diminished at all over the years and, if anything, their legacy has just continued to grow. It’s been such an honour to catch up with so many of them after all this time and hear how one magical rugby match, that meant so much to so many people in our province, has continued to reverberate through their lives.”
