Sunday morning dawned not with a ‘golden sunrise’, but nor were we greeted by ‘the darkness’.
Since the New Zealand music, black fleece-wearing, kiwi fruit-choking moment of my son earlier in the week, I had ignored all things all black and all things Kiwi. I even hid his Darth Vader toy.
However, there were signs from my 17-month-old son that he knew the balance needed to be restored. On Saturday morning I went to dress him in a gold shirt but his mum swapped it for a blue one.
Soon after he vomited on the shirt and the gold shirt was reinstated to a now happy child. Just before his bedtime, he found a Wallaby toy he had not played with for months and insisted on taking it to bed.
Call me superstitious, antediluvian even if you’d excuse the pun, but the signs were pointing towards something special. As a Wallaby fan it was time for the Wallabies to triumph.
Then came the deluge that ruined the contest as entertainment for many punters. Whenever there is weather like this it always brings the teams closer together. Basic skills, brute force and tactical nous come to the fore while flair takes a back seat.
If I was to mark the game on these factors I would call basic skills a draw, brute force a draw, tactical nous an All Black victory and flair a Wallaby victory. Everything points to a draw – a result that was reflected on the final scoreboard.
Where did that leave the new generation of Wallaby heroes I had cried out for last week? As so often happens when we build our own expectations to fever pitch no great moment seems to arise.
There were though heroes in the small things that were done. It was here that the Wallabies oft maligned tight five all stood up to be counted.
Sam Carter and James Slipper worked tirelessly all day. They carried the ball, the tackled and they hit rucks. Sekope Kepu kept the All Black loose heads from angling in most of the night and Rob Simmons ran the lineout nicely. The only criticism of starting debutant Nathan Charles is that he should have been a hog and tried to score himself rather than pass the ball.
The biggest hero of the night though was captain Michael Hooper. It was not his rugby skills at the breakdown, his running or his tackling that stood out. It was his lack of fear in trying to win the game through scoring tries.
We could all jump up and down and say he should have insisted on taking the shots for goal but Hooper and the team made the decision to attack and score tries. It wasn’t a success on this occasion but it is one that I hope he continues to pursue.
Where then does that leave us in the Star Wars/Bledisloe Cup narrative? Was it the case of being so close to A New Hope before the Empire Strikes Back next weekend? As a Wallaby fan I sincerely hope this isn’t the case.
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.
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