Kirwan then finished his season by playing in the Ranfurly Shield defences over Horowhenua on 8 September which they won 38–11, and over Auckland which was won 20–5. The match with Auckland was played in front of a huge crowd of 10,000 and Kirwan was heavily involved in several attacking raids. It was Hawke's Bay's last shield defence of the year. Two weeks later Kirwan travelled with the Hawke's Bay team to Auckland to play a return match at the Auckland Domain. The crowd numbered 22,000. Auckland reversed the earlier result winning by 17 to 9 in a match which raised £1000 for the construction of the nearby Auckland War Memorial Museum which had construction on it begin in 1929.
