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Rangiora hosted the Ranfurly Shield last week.
Representatives from the Canterbury RFU visited partners around the region with the newly awarded shield, and for a brief time the Ranfurly shield was on show at the headquarters of Luisetti Seeds.
Managing Director Edward Luisetti said it was an honour to have the shield in his hands again as it was the second time the company, a longtime supporter of rugby in North Canterbury, had hosted the shield.
Joining Luisetti staff looking over the shield were children from the Rangiora High School Nursery School.
Mr Luisetti said his family had a long association with the nursery as his father Max had been an opening day pupil, and his own children had all attended the nursery.
CRFU partnership manager Zac Topping says he has been very busy since Canterbury took the shield from Otago in a 19–15 victory on August 9, 2026.
"One of the most common things I hear from adults proudly standing alongside the trophy for a photo, is the comment that they last saw the trophy as children themselves and now they were showing it to their children."
After just 11 days in Canterbury hands, the Ranfurly Shield is now in the hands of Northland after they stunned Canterbury with a 36-12 in Christchurch on August 20, ending Northland’s 48-year wait to reclaim the famous Log o' Wood.
The Ranfurly Shield (known as the Log o' Wood) is the premier trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition outside of NPC and Super Rugby competitions.
The Shield is based on a challenge system amongst provincial rugby teams
The holding union must defend the Shield in challenge matches, which are usually played at the Shield holder's home venue, and if the challenger is successful in their challenge, they will then become the new holder of the Shield.
Canterbury holds the record for the highest number of successful Ranfurly Shield challenges with 18 wins, two more than Auckland.
Southland holds the record of the shortest Ranfurly Shield reign (six days).
In 1901 the Governor of New Zealand, the 5th Earl of Ranfurly, announced that he would present a cup to the New Zealand Rugby Football Union to be used as the prize in a competition of their choosing.
When the trophy, a shield, arrived, the NZRFU decided that it would be awarded to the union with the best record in the 1902 season, and thenceforth be the subject of a challenge system.
Auckland, unbeaten domestically in 1902, was presented with the shield and played their first defence of the shield in 1904, which they lost to Wellington.
The shield was designed as a trophy for association football (soccer), not rugby.
The picture in the centrepiece was a soccer one and was modified by adding goal posts on the soccer goal in the picture to create a rugby scene.
The 121-year-old Ranfurly Shield was fully restored in 2023.
