Log safe but it was oh so close

Canterbury players Scott Hamilton (left), Andrew Ellis and Ben Blair (right) celebrate their win over Wellington. Ross Land / Getty Images

Canterbury 15 Wellington 14

The Ranfurly Shield remained safe - and so did Wellington's reputation as challenging chokers.

Five minutes of the most dour and dogged piece of ball retention by Canterbury, in the final stages of the sixth defence of this reign, put paid to Wellington's fickle challenge.

Canterbury held the shield, and their drive towards a home semifinal in the NPC, with a win, although Wellington scored the only try in the match in Christchurch last night.

The result means Auckland will challenge for the Ranfurly Shield in the final round robin match against Canterbury in a fortnight.

Since 1982, Wellington have failed to lift the shield on 10 consecutive occasions and this will have to go down as a bungled attempt, given that under-strength Canterbury were largely lethargic and often lacking in finesse.

The star for much of the match was the most unlikely of customers, the Wellington scrum.

Against all predictions, they wrecked the Canterbury eight on occasions, with tighthead Neemia Tialata the star.

At times, his opposite, All Black Greg Somerville, was popped high into the air, although on reputation it would be surprising if Somerville was the Canterbury villain.

With two young locks behind him, and hooker Corey Flynn only just making the game following injury, there was more to this than met the eye.

But even with this advantage, and a pile of first half ball, Wellington were disjointed.

From the opening five minutes, when Conrad Smith threw a forward pass, Thomas Waldrom dropped the ball with a try in the offing, and Roy Kinikinilau spilled another pass when given an overlap, the Wellington challenge never found third gear, let alone overdrive.

Canterbury were there for the taking, but hung in, and Blair kept nailing the penalties to keep them within striking distance.

From the 74th to the 79th minute, the red and blacks kept their noses to the turf, and refused to let the ball stray more than 10 metres from each ruck, as they closed down the game as no other team in this country can.

They had taken their first lead in the game with 12 minutes remaining, when Ben Blair landed his fifth penalty from a Wellington ruck infringement.

In terms of an NPC match, Wellington might have been adjudged unlucky.

But in regards to the Ranfurly Shield, and the tradition that challengers must indeed challenge, Canterbury deserved to hang on to the famous trophy.

In less demanding times, this might have been regarded as a stirring match but it fell well short of expectations.

Wellington opened the scoring in the fifth minute when wing Lome Fa'atau won the nod from the television replay official, after chasing through on a Piri Weepu chip kick.

Weepu had been allowed to run and run from a scrum, before chipping ahead. Fa'atau certainly got to the ball first, although whether he got the required pressure on the ball was doubtful.

The sides traded penalties for the rest of the half, with Wellington constantly on attack and Canterbury limited to just a few promising forays.

Wellington's attacks though were lame, to the extent that Ma'a Nonu was forced into a late drop goal attempt which was so ill conceived that it barely qualified.

Canterbury 15 (B. Blair 5 pen)

Wellington 14 (L. Fa'atau try; J. Gopperth 3 pen).

HT: 6-11.