By Stu Piddington

After the South Canterbury Heartland rugby side re-wrote the record books and notched up a century for the first time on Saturday, rugby writer Stu Piddington decided to take a look back at some long-standing provincial records.

The South Canterbury side's 100-7 rout of East Coast was the first time the 'Green and Blacks' had ever notched up a century in first class rugby.

Sixteen tries and 10 conversions against East Coast was enough to rewrite history.

DOUG FIELD/STUFF

The scoreboard says it all after South Canterbury's emphatic 100-7 win against East Coast at Alpine Energy Stadium in Timaru on Saturday.

South Canterbury had only got close once before, 20 years ago when the Kevin Gloag coached side humbled North Otago 94-7. Current coach Barry Matthews and technical adviser John Simpson were part of both occasions, playing halfback and blindside respectively.

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In the 1994 season opener at Fraser Park (now Alpine Energy Stadium), they ripped the Old Golds apart - running in 15 tries including hat tricks to both fullback David Hunter and wing Gareth Burgess.

South Canterbury captain Nick Strachan goes over in the dying moments of the match to rack up 100 points against East Coast at Alpine Energy Stadium in Timaru. It was the skipper's third try for the match.

Number 8 John Mawhinney and halfback Barry Matthews also got doubles, while hooker Ken Dodds, wings Brendan Laney and Stephen Todd also dotted down, along with prop Nigel Walsh and second five Scott Hewson.

Laney also wrote himself into the record books with eight conversions, to join Barry Fairbrother (who had done it three times previously) and Chris Gard. Laney also landed a conversion that day and went on to represent the New Zealand Colts later that year.

The 1994 side took the record off the 1992 team, who featured many of the same players. They had beaten North Otago 78-13 (also in Timaru) by running in 14 tries, including four to halfback Matthews. Fairbrother landed eight conversions and two penalties. Tries however were worth only four points back then

In the 1993 season it changed to five points, but even if the values were the same the 1994 team would have pipped their predecessors by two points.

The highest South Canterbury score prior to that was set in 1973, when the side including many of the 1974 Ranfurly Shield heroes beat North Otago 46-14.  

That side beat the record of the 1962 team who also beat North Otago 24-8, which was a big score 50 years ago with tries worth just three points.

Nigel Walsh, who played prop in the both 1992 and 1994 South Canterbury teams is the coach of North Otago these days, but his side are likely to fancy their chances in 2018 rather than fade away.

While the highest score could fall again at some stage, there are some records that could take some beating.

One name that features frequently appears is legendary South Canterbury first five Barry Fairbrother.

A centurion for the province, he played from 1981 to 1992 and still retains eight records.

Fairbrother holds the record for most points for the province with 1048. He also holds the record for the most points in a season with 175, most conversions (31), penalties (31), dropped goals (8) and has the most penalties in a game with seven.

Fairbrother still is, and will probably stay forever, the greatest drop goal exponent in New Zealand first class rugby history.  His 61 pots came in just 118 outings, meaning he landed one every second game. 

South Canterbury's top try scorer is Stephen Todd with 60, and he also holds the record for most appearances with 152, another record that is unlikely to be beaten.

Most tries in a season is 13, shared between Jack Ellery (1960), Craig Dorgan (1992) and Brendan Laney (1992).

First five Graeme Dempster has most points in a game with 32 against Wairarapa Bush in in 1996, while nine players share most tries with four. The first was Reverend George Gerard in 1926 and the last was Erenimo Tau against Poverty Bay in 2015. In-between Edward 'Bags' Ryan (1935 and 37), James Cole (1958), Edward Smith (1961), Matthews (1992) and David Hunter (1993) have also dotted down four times.

On the wrong side of the ledger, South Canterbury's biggest ever loss came at the hands of Canterbury when they were beaten 103-0 in a Ranfurly Shield challenge in 2001.

Article added: Thursday 20 September 2018