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New Zealand's new domestic rugby showpiece - the Air New Zealand Cup - was officially launched in grand style on Thursday.

A new trophy was unveiled, along with the launch of a comprehensive new advertising campaign and New Zealand rugby's biggest ever press conference.

The launch was held at Auckland's Mt Smart Stadium - home this year to the Counties Manukau Steelers. In launching the new competition, New Zealand Rugby Union Deputy Chief Executive Steve Tew told the audience this year would be a very special season of provincial rugby.

"It is a new chapter in the long and colourful history of provincial rugby in New Zealand," said Tew.

"Over the next 13 weeks, we will see well over 300 of New Zealand's best players from the 14 Air New Zealand Cup provinces carry the honour of their provinces out onto the rugby field," he said.

In a New Zealand first, the biggest ever rugby press conference, held at the launch, brought together players and coaches from each of the Air New Zealand Cup provinces - Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Canterbury, Counties Manukau, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu, North Harbour, Northland, Otago, Southland, Taranaki, Tasman, Waikato and Wellington.

The competition's new sterling silver trophy, the Air New Zealand Cup, made by famed Lord of the Rings 'One Ring' designers, Jens Hansen of Nelson, was also unveiled at the launch. The trophy is modelled on the Air New Zealand Cup logo.

The Air New Zealand Cup competition kicks off on Friday 28 July when Hawke's Bay, making their return to the top-flight domestic competition, hosts Canterbury in Napier.

The first weekend also sees the other three new teams - Counties Manukau, Manawatu and Tasman - in action at home. The final will be played on 21 October.

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Source: ONE Sport

2:24 PM, 13 Jul 2006

New Zealand rugby has its newest trophy and the new symbol of provincial rugby supremacy - the Air New Zealand Cup.

The stunning new trophy was unveiled by New Zealand Rugby Union Deputy Chief Executive Steve Tew and Air New Zealand Chief Executive Rob Fyfe at the official launch of the Air New Zealand Cup competition in Auckland today.

Handcrafted from 2.7 kilograms of sterling silver and sitting on a basalt base, the Air New Zealand Cup is a contemporary interpretation of a traditional rugby trophy and is based on the Air New Zealand Cup logo which represents a winged ball in flight.

The trophy is the second rugby trophy made this year by leading New Zealand gold and silversmith workshop Jens Hansen Gold and Silversmith, from Nelson. The workshop, which made the famous 'One Ring' for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy, also made the Rebel Sport Super 14 trophy.

Mr Fyfe said the new trophy was a testament to local workmanship.

"Once again, Jens Hansen Gold and Silversmith has done an outstanding job in crafting a trophy that any captain would be proud to raise above his head. The artful incorporation of 'wings' into the trophy's handles serves a practical purpose, while figuratively highlighting the winning team's 'flight' and Air New Zealand's sponsorship of the competition," he said.

Mr Tew said the new trophy could proudly stand alongside New Zealand's other coveted trophies and will be fiercely contested by the 14 Provincial Unions in the inaugural year of the Air New Zealand Cup.

"We have a brand new competition and now a striking new Cup to go with it, with the shape suggesting the pace, movement and physical nature of the provincial game. It will be a fantastic addition to the trophy cabinet of one of the 14 Air New Zealand Cup teams," he said.

Jens Hansen silversmith Thorkild Hansen said they had spent three months working on the Cup and had worked in close partnership with the NZRU and Wellington design company DNA Designed Communications who developed the Air New Zealand Cup logo as well as the Cup's shape and detailing.

"Designing a Cup for hand forging rather than casting is not a simple task. So the team in Wellington worked closely with us to make sure the design was do-able using our traditional processes. We thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of taking the concept through to completion," Mr Hansen said.

The Air New Zealand Cup will go on public display for the first time at the opening match of the Air New Zealand Cup competition, when Hawke's Bay hosts Canterbury in Napier on Friday 28 July.

The Air New Zealand Cup - key facts

Standing 45cm tall and weighing 3.9 kilograms, the Air New Zealand Cup was hand forged from 2.7 kilograms of sterling silver by master silversmith Thorkild Hansen. The inside of the cup is gilded with gold. Waihi stone carver Jeff Beckwith handcrafted the polished stone base from black basalt quarried from the Bombay Hills.

ENDS

Sunday-Star Times Newspaper
09 July 2006 By TIM HUNTER
PRECIOUS PIECE: Halfdan Hansen's company, which is building on the fame of making rings for Lord of the Rings, is now working on the new NPC trophy.
EVAN BARNES/Sunday Star-Times







It will hold three litres of liquid and have wings that double as handles - such are the specifications of the new NPC rugby trophy to be unveiled this week.

The winning team in the Air New Zealand Cup will no doubt take full advantage of those features - a more functional design than the Super 14 trophy won by the Crusaders in May.

Both pieces of silverware are the product of Nelson gold and silversmith Jens Hansen, maker of the famous gold ring featured in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The firm is now owned by the late Jens Hansen's sons, Thorkild and Halfdan.

Thorkild is the craftsman, Halfdan the businessman - an electrical engineer who returned from a career overseas with oil industry giant Schlumberger to run the commercial side of the business.

The commission for the Air NZ Cup began a year ago and late last week the silver chalice was still undergoing the finishing touches. It's a big project for Jens Hansen, but the money is not the motivation.

"These trophies for the rugby union, they are well into five figures but they are very labour intensive. It's more for the prestige."

The Hansens know the value of a good reputation.

Their father was a long-time friend of jeweller Michael Hill and sold some products through the retail chain. "The guys here worked really hard producing volume," Halfdan said, "but the margins were low".

Greater rewards were in producing hand-crafted quality products, sold through the family shop in Nelson.

And then there was the commission for Lord of the Rings, bringing such fame that a Google search for Jens Hansen brings them up as number one, despite the name being the Danish equivalent of John Smith.

"I don't know that we want to become the people known as the trophy makers or the movie prop people," Halfdan said. "But why fight it? We made the world's most famous ring. It gives instant credibility."


Along with the movie came a lively market in replica rings, particularly from overseas. "The peak would have been a year or two ago," Halfdan said. "It would be fair to say our turnover tripled or quadrupled and it's all gone to the bottom line, which has allowed us to invest in equipment and advertising."

The worry was that business would sag as the Rings frenzy died away, but the high plateau has been maintained with special commissions and higher priced items.

Now the brothers are thinking about how to expand without compromising the craftsman ethic. Halfdan sees scope for a bigger shop in Nelson, or a second shop in another location within two years. "We'd like to be in Queenstown," he said.