A map of Saturday’s Ranfurly Shield parade route. Graphic \/ WDC<\/p>\n
The team will be welcomed into the CBD by a pipe band before making its way to the Cameron St Mall, where supporters can take part in a mass haka before a meet-and-greet with the players until 1pm.<\/p>\n
Parking will be available at the Bascule, Pohe Island and H\u0101tea Drive carparks and at Railway Rd and throughout the Avenues.<\/p>\n
The council expects the city centre carparks to fill quickly, so is asking people to park and walk where possible.<\/p>\n
Northlanders are encouraged to don blue to help create \u201ca sea of pride\u201d, the council said. As a bonus, CityLink buses will be free all day for anyone wearing blue.<\/p>\n
People are encouraged to dress for the weather as heavy rains are expected this weekend as a new low moves over Northland.<\/p>\n
A region-wide heavy rain watch is in place from 4am until 10pm tomorrow, with a moderate chance the watch will be upgraded to a warning.<\/p>\n
Official fan signs are available today from Te Iwitahi – the Civic Centre – and Central Library on Rust Ave and the Whang\u0101rei i-site Visitor Centre in Raumanga.<\/p>\n
Whang\u0101rei District Council district development co-ordinator Cheree Morrison has her fan sign ready to go. Photo \/ WDC<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ranfurly Shield holds a special place in New Zealand rugby, and Saturday\u2019s parade is an opportunity for the community to celebrate the team\u2019s achievements together,\u201d the Whang\u0101rei District Council said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether you\u2019re a lifelong Taniwha supporter or simply keen to be part of the occasion, bring your wh\u0101nau, wear your blue and help give the team the welcome they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team will leave Saturday\u2019s celebrations to prepare for its Shield defence game against Tasman at Semenoff Stadium, 5pm on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The Taniwha are preparing to put the Ranfurly Shield on the line for the first time since 1978.<\/p>\n
The players vying to keep the Log o\u2019 Wood have been named, with Esile Fono, James Mullan, Marcel Renata, Josh Goodhue, Allan Craig, Rob Rush, Lachie Hooper, Terrell Peita, Sam Nock, captain Rivez Reihana, Brady Rush, Hudson Creighton, Heremaia Murray, Nathan Salmon and Jordan Trainor in the starting XV.<\/p>\n
James Ramm is in line to make his debut from the bench, alongside Heath MacEwan, Olly Ryan, Daniel Botha, Darcy Holwell, Grady Forbes, Josh Renton and Jade Stewart.<\/p>\n
Players Sam Caird, Reesjan Pasitoa, Corey Evans and Zion Going were unavailable for selection.<\/p>\n
Tickets for the clash have been rushing out the door with more than 10,000 already sold, reportedly quadruple the usual number. <\/p>\n
As of yesterday, the Northland Rugby Union reported tickets for the corporate suites, level 3, Kauri lounge and grandstand were sold out, and only general admission was left. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A map of Saturday’s Ranfurly Shield parade route. Graphic \/ WDC The team will be welcomed into the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1443,74,5263,15497,177,78,6036,5971,111,139,1067,69,3074,34258,8125,316,213,286938,61,2951,1869,1533,6027,1530,197],"class_list":["post-582834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-about","tag-after","tag-all","tag-blue","tag-celebrate","tag-in","tag-know","tag-need","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-painting","tag-parade","tag-ranfurly","tag-shield","tag-sports","tag-taniwhas","tag-to","tag-town","tag-whangrei","tag-will","tag-win","tag-years","tag-you"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582834","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=582834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}