{"id":575763,"date":"2026-08-21T10:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T10:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/575763\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T10:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T10:26:14","slug":"crowds-welcome-northland-taniwha-home-after-ranfurly-shield-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/575763\/","title":{"rendered":"Crowds welcome Northland Taniwha home after Ranfurly Shield win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Crowds of supporters packed into Whang\u0101rei Airport this afternoon to welcome the Northland Taniwha home after their famous Ranfurly Shield victory<\/a> over Canterbury last night. <\/p>\n

The team returned to Northland today carrying the Log o’ Wood after ending a 48-year wait for the shield with a commanding 36-12 win in Christchurch. <\/p>\n

Fans decked out in Taniwha colours filled the airport on Friday, greeting players with cheers, applause and a haka as they arrived home. <\/p>\n

Northland celebrates Ranfurly Shield return after 48 years – Watch on TVNZ+<\/a><\/p>\n

Captain Rivez Reihana led the team through the crowd with the Ranfurly Shield in hand, before the players responded with a haka of their own. <\/p>\n

Watch every NPC match live and free on TVNZ+<\/a> with three games also broadcast on TVNZ 1 each weekend.<\/p>\n

\"Northland’s<\/p>\n

Northland\u2019s Rivez Reihana and team mates. Northland Rugby, winners of the Ranfurly Shield airport arrival at Whang\u0101rei Airport, Whangarei, New Zealand on Friday 21 August 2026. (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n

Speaking to 1News, Reihana said the significance of the team’s victory was still taking time to sink in. <\/p>\n

“I was on the flight home and I had it [the shield] next to me, and I still can’t really believe it,” he said. <\/p>\n

“It’s been 50 years, and we don’t know the next time it will come round. So I’m just trying to take in the moment and enjoy it.”<\/p>\n

Reihana said the scale of the reception at Whang\u0101rei Airport was difficult to put into words. <\/p>\n

“It’s more of a feeling for me. Walking in, seeing this place packed. This is the busiest I’ve ever seen this airport,” he said. <\/p>\n

\"Fans<\/p>\n

Fans and supporters at Whang\u0101rei Airport (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n

“Seeing it filled with kids welcoming us home with the Log o’ Wood, it’s awesome.”<\/p>\n

Halfback Sam Nock, who scored during the match, said ending Northland\u2019s long wait for the shield was something the side had always believed was achievable.<\/p>\n

“It wasn\u2019t impossible to us,” Nock said.<\/p>\n

Northlanders throng to see the iconic\u00a0provincial rugby trophy after their team took it off Canterbury.\u00a0 (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

‘I know how hard the boys work. I know how how much we love the jersey. So to be able to go down there, and be ourselves and show that to the people was no surprise.” <\/p>\n

Northland had not held the Ranfurly Shield since 1978, but produced a strong performance against Canterbury at One NZ Stadium to end the decades-long wait. <\/p>\n

The Taniwha took a 21-12 lead into halftime after tries to James Mullan and Nock helped the visitors wrestle control of the match.<\/p>\n

\"Rivez<\/p>\n

Rivez Reihana of Northland holds up the Shield. (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n

They continued to pull away after the break, with Rob Rush crossing early in the second half before Reihana added a penalty from about 40 metres out to stretch the advantage to 31-12. <\/p>\n

Canterbury mounted a late push, but Northland\u2019s defence held firm before Rush crossed again in the 80th minute to seal the 36-12 victory, sparking celebrations among the blue side.<\/p>\n

Watch every NPC match live and free on TVNZ+<\/a> with three games also broadcast on TVNZ 1 each weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Crowds of supporters packed into Whang\u0101rei Airport this afternoon to welcome the Northland Taniwha home after their famous…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,1067,69,213],"class_list":["post-575763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}