The Horan-Little Shield is a trophy in Australia's domestic
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
competition.
Proposed to the Australian Rugby Union, now known as
Rugby Australia
Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named the Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It ...
, by members of the
Green and Gold Rugby
Green and Gold Rugby is a website "for passionate followers of Australian rugby." It is an Australian Rugby Union website that covers the Wallabies, Super Rugby, Australian club and schoolboy rugby. The contributors are volunteers.
History
# A ...
supporters website,
it was first played for in 2015.
The Shield is modelled on New Zealand's
Ranfurly Shield
The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system. The holding union must defend the shield in challeng ...
, in which the holding union must defend the shield in challenge matches, and a successful challenger becomes the new holder of the Shield. The team who holds the Shield at the conclusion of the
National Rugby Championship
The National Rugby Championship, known as NRC, was an Australian rugby union competition. It was contested by eight teams, seven from Australia and one from Fiji. The tournament ran from 2014 until 2019 before being disbanded in 2020 following t ...
is considered to have won the Shield for that year, and are the only team to have their name engraved on it.
The Shield is named for former
Wallaby
A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized Macropodidae, macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same Taxonomy (biology), taxon ...
players
Tim Horan
Tim Horan AM (born 18 May 1970) is a former Australian rugby union footballer. He played for the Queensland Reds in the Super 12, and represented Australia. He was one of the best centres in the world throughout the 1990s due to his attacking ...
and
Jason Little to symbolise friendship and community. Horan and Little played together and against each other from junior club level all the way up to become Australia's centre field partnership in winning the
Rugby World Cup
The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...
.
The Shield was first won by
Melbourne Rising
The Melbourne Rising is an Australian rugby union team based in Melbourne that competes in the National Rugby Championship (NRC). The team represents the rugby community in Victoria and is organised and managed by Rugby Victoria with the coach ...
before the 2015 season, by virtue of their undefeated record in the inaugural NRC regular season.
Challenges
Terms of competition for the Horan-Little Shield are:
A team that holds the Shield is required to put it up for challenge at every home fixture. They are not obliged to accept challenges for away fixtures, though they may choose to do so.
If a team has successfully defended two challenge matches since becoming the Shield holder, then that team's subsequent matches, home or away, become automatic challenges. The Shield holder at the end of the regular season (or after a finals match where the holder chose to put the Shield up for challenge) becomes the only team whose name is engraved on the Shield as winner for that season.
Shield record
See also
*
History of rugby union in Australia
Notes
Melbourne Rising notably defended the shield for the first time in an away fixture against Queensland Country.
Western Force inherited the shield when they replaced Perth Spirit as Western Australia's team in the NRC for the 2018 season. Spirit had won it in the final round of the 2017 regular season.
References
External links
Original announcement and rules
{{Southern Hemisphere provincial rugby competitions
Rugby union trophies and awards
Australian sports trophies and awards
Awards established in 2015
Rugby union competitions in Australia
2015 establishments in Australia
National Rugby Championship
Rugby union competitions for provincial teams