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On the day I first watched a top rugby game live, my dad bought me a small soft toy. A smiling, rugby ball shaped figure in Highlanders colours, complete with rugby helmet and logo.
For a nine-year-old Kiwi growing up in a remote corner of Southland, just being at the game was a massive experience. At the time, the Highlanders were one of the dominant powers in the Super 12, boasting a giant front row in Carl Hoeft, Carl Hayman and Anton Oliver, and backline stars such as Byron Kelleher, Tony Brown and Jeff Wilson.
While I don’t remember much of the game itself, I remember much about the surrounding situation. It was the last round of the regular season, and a semi-final position was on the line.
The previous day, the Brumbies had defeated the Blues, thus ensuring that the Highlanders could not simply hope to earn enough bonus points and qualify this way. They had to beat the Reds, or bust.
And I remember them winning, 40 points to 26 on a cold night at Carisbrook. The year was 2002.
Over the next 12 years, support would instead be an exercise in patience.
The year 2003 was not so bad, with the Highlanders, although not quite as impressive, still looked strong for much of the season, even defeating the eventual champion Blues despite public clashes between players and coach Laurie Mains. However, they never quite looked up to their old standard, and the Reds took revenge in a last round rematch, ensuring that this time, the southern men would not qualify.
It was 2004 when the long periods of mediocrity really set in. The team still retained many old stars, particularly up front, and new stars such as Jimmy Cowan and Nick Evans were being minted. However, the supporting cast was not up to the same standard, and Greg Cooper never really looked assured as the new head coach.
Despite a slight resurgence in 2005, with players like Anthony Tuitavake and James Ryan standing up, a terrible end to the season ensured the result was the same. My support for them, while still unquestioning, was beginning to be accompanied with a sense of frustration. After all, this was still a team that boasted its share of All Blacks, and had enough of a reputation to lure a few others, such as Ben Blair.
Why, then, were results so underwhelming?
It was in 2006, the beginning of my high school years, that the rot really began to set in. Attending boarding school is always an adjustment, and for me, it was an especially long one. I mostly responded to this by engaging more thoroughly in my hobbies, including watching as much sport as was possible.
My support for the Highlanders grew more loyal, hardened by the sizeable minority in the hostel who grew up north of the Waitaki, and looked at the Highlanders as increasingly a joke.
Unfortunately for me, the Highlanders were increasingly looking like a joke. They had finally stopped looking threatening and started looking average. Middle of the table performances and negative win-loss records became the norm.
And, most worryingly, top players stopped looking at them as an option. The only new All Black I can remember from this era was Craig Newby, a strong player at Super/provincial level but not one who would be remembered for his international performances.
After 2007, matters only got worse. The departure of Cooper after an underwhelming four years was accompanied by that of many top players, lured by overseas offers and better performing franchises. Chief among these was Hayman, the best player in the team, but also the rest of the front row, Evans, and Ryan (due to injury). Glen Moore was plucked out of obscurity and charged with turning the team’s fortunes around. He claimed to have a three-year plan for doing so.
The next three years proved that if he did in fact have a plan, it was woefully naive. The forward pack, traditionally the strongest area for the team, began to go backwards and handling errors were all too common ways of giving the other team the ball.
Those few selected for the All Blacks (Cowan, Adam Thomson and Ben Smith spring to mind) invariably came with the ‘starred in a struggling team’ tag. Calls came from the likes of Chris Rattue for the Highlanders to be replaced with a North Harbour-based franchise; first quietly and then with increasing volume as the poor results piled up.
While it is unfair to blame Moore for all of this – especially with an undercurrent of player grumblings about administrators – it was ultimately his legacy to which these performances were attached to. As I ended high school, he ended his career as head coach.
Jamie Joseph was appointed after a successful stint at Wellington to take the reins. While there was some discontent about the way he was appointed (with many potential applicants opting out feeling that the board had already made up their minds), no one could dispute his coaching credentials.
His impact was felt immediately.
Unable to persuade many of New Zealand’s top players to join, Joseph made a virtue of necessity and instead aimed to get the most out of domestic players. A culture of journeymen performing at their best and defining themselves by their efforts over abilities began to emerge, a culture exemplified in players such as Jason Rutledge, John Hardie and captain Jamie Mackintosh.
The 2011 Highlanders raced to a fantastic start, before injuries coupled with a lack of squad depth let them down. At last, a team that was performing with pride and skill. As a student in Christchurch, away from the restrictive atmosphere of boarding school, I could support this team without the sense of frustration that had previously accompanied me.
The 2012 season was much the same as the previous year, while 2013 was characterised by the signing of a number of high profile players and the subsequent failure of most of these players to perform. It was the next season that was the breakthrough one instead.
Despite an even win-loss record, and the presence of only two All Blacks within the team (Malakai Fekitoa would be selected later that year), the Highlanders made the play-offs for the first time since that cold night at Carisbrook.
More importantly for me, after so many years of frustration, the team was now an easy one to support. What they lacked in big names they made up for in effort and dedication to each other. The two co-captains provided an excellent image of the rest of the team; the incredibly talented back Ben Smith and the solid, workmanlike forward Nasi Manu.
Writers more articulate than me have covered the rise and results of the Highlanders over 2015. Speculation for 2016 is also fraught with risk: history has shown that it is much easier to win a Super Rugby title than it is to defend it.
I would like to extend my sympathies to Hurricanes supporters, it seems genuinely unfair that a team should not be recognised further after one of the best regular seasons ever, especially after a similarly patchy history and with the departure of some long-time players in Conrad Smith and Ma’a Nonu.
But after standing in a crowded Christchurch bar, watching the Highlanders claim their first crown while tightly clutching that blue and yellow soft toy I had had for the past 13 years, I can assure you that it is worth the wait.
Congratulations to the champion Highlanders of 2015.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.