Becoming the 18th province to win the Ranfurly Shield would be the 'crowning glory' for the only current Mako player to have featured in both previous challenges.
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The U20s got off to a flying start when left wing Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens opened the scoring within five minutes, finishing off a clean break from second five-eighth Corey Evans to score in the left-hand corner. Two more tries followed soon after through lock Josh Lord and hooker Soane Vikena, as the Mako struggled to break out of their own half in the early exchanges. After 20 minutes the Mako finally started to find their feet and got back into the match, with left wing Timoci Tavatavanawai impressing both with ball in hand and a couple of crunching hits on defence.