Ranfurly Shield rugby leaves Tasman perfectly primed for NPC finals

Finlay Christie insists there's no chance his Tasman Mako side will be suffering from any kind of Ranfurly Shield hangover when they head into their NPC quarter-finals clash with southern rivals Canterbury on Sunday.

The region was whipped into a frenzy when the Mako wrestled the Log O'Wood off Hawke's Bay back in early September , bringing the nation's most treasured domestic rugby prize back to Nelson for the very first time.

Their tenure with the Shield was relatively brief, defending it against Wellington and Auckland before being handily beaten by Taranaki, who have now locked it away for the summer.

But according to halfback Finlay Christie, having to lift for the famed intensity of those Shield defences has his team perfectly primed for finals rugby.

"We've been pretty lucky in the way that we've played a few Shield games towards the end of the season," Christie told SENZ's The Run Home. "They have that kind of finals intensity.

"I think a lot of the boys will be prepped well and have a bit of that experience already.

"The old foes from down the road coming up, doesn't get much bigger than that for a Tasman team so we're looking forward to it.

"The boys will be fired up."

Sunday's defeat to Taranaki came at the tailend of Tasman's notorious annual Storm week - their third match in the space of eight days.

That's meant an abbreviated training week in the lead-in to their grudge match against the red and blacks, who they dealt with 22-7 in their only previous meeting this season.

They'll head back to Blenheim's Lansdowne Park to host the Cantabrians, which is certain to be packed to the gills come kick-off time.

The Mako will also be bolstered by the return of David Havili and Ethan Blackadder, who have been given the green light by the All Blacks brass to take part, as have George Bell, Fletcher Newell, and Sam Darry for Canterbury. "It's been awesome having them back," said Christie.

"They always add so much to the team and bring that experience and that next level of footy.

"They've been training with us the last couple of weeks and we're bloody glad that we can have them for a big game this weekend."

Listen to the full interview below: