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The Bledisloe Cup remains one of the jewels in the crown of the international rugby calendar – up there with the World Cup, Lions tours, the final day of the Six Nations, and watching the Brisbane club rugby grand final from the hill at Ballymore.
After last year’s embarrassing Sydney display, where the Wallabies had visibly given up by halftime, this crown jewel status survived by the skin of its teeth purely through sheer loyalty and nostalgia.
If the Bledisloe was a beloved family dog, it would currently be blind in one eye, have a different immune system disease every week, and lose control of its bowels every two hours.
The majority of us fell in love with rugby due to these titanic annual battles with the All Blacks, staged from Ballymore to Lansdowne Road to the House of Pain. Memories such as ‘the tackle’, ‘the 2000 greatest Test of all time’, David Campese’s blind, over-the-shoulder pass to Tim Horan, John Eales’ last-minute kick, and countless others create a warm, fuzzy, protective-blanket feel. It’s the rugby equivalent of binge-watching favourite childhood TV shows.
The spectre of another All Black mauling looms large, like Jonah Lomu in the 1995 Bledisloe sprinting from over the horizon at full-tilt. All the wishy-washy, official social media pictures of the Wallabies doing hill sprints and training hard in Newcastle give off the vibe of that couple obsessed with posting about how good, fun and happy their relationship is – people see right through the smiling façade, look into their eyes and know it’s as fragile as anything.
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There was even evidence of the Wallabies making it all the way out to a distant and arid western land beginning with P, where rugby has been neglected, deceived and messed about in favour of the traditional eastern areas and Melbourne. Penrith was in shock at their presence.
The eternal optimist in me means I will be watching and hoping for an Aussie victory, much like the night two years ago when Nic White (Nic White!) came off the bench and temporarily de-railed the runaway All Blacks train on their way to terminus World Cup, providing a sketch of an idea of a brainstorm on how to beat them in the future. I and the two other people watching in an Irish pub in Amsterdam had never felt higher.
It is of course too fanciful to suggest a Tom Bowman-type cult hero can bolt from the blue, put the Wallabies on his back, and catch the All Blacks off-guard (although White came close), such is the depth and breadth that modern rugby analytics can delve in to.
But if the current Australian squad show half as much application as Bowman did on that glorious, blue-skied day at Lancaster Park, then we can at least fly close to the sun.
After 15 years of pain and the week from hell just gone, may the Force be with you, Wallabies.
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.