As expected the Australian Kangaroos walked into Old Trafford for the World Cup final as villains.
But like all great villains, the green and gold machine won the English crowd over after eighty minutes of pure rugby league excellence.
That is what the best do.
Australia not only won the World Cup back, they ripped it away from New Zealand and turned Old Trafford into the Kiwis’ very own theatre of shattered dreams.
That’s how good the Kangaroos were on the weekend.
Some have questioned the validity of the tournament in general. But all of that faded away as the Kangaroos dissected their opponents in one of the classiest displays in a blockbuster match we have ever witnessed.
Even the English fans who packed the venue, still burning from defeat a week earlier, could do nothing but applaud and be in awe of what this team can do.
Everyone loves a villain.
In this tournament, it was the Australian powerhouse.
The fans were frothing to see Sonny Bill Williams and his colleagues triumph and bring the Kangaroos down.
But in the back of all minds was the simple fact that the Australian rugby league team is one of the greatest sporting juggernauts on the planet and if they got their way, the World Cup was theirs.
That’s how it unfolded.
Telegraph.co.uk‘s Ian Chadband reported it perfectly.
“A world record crowd for an international of 74,468 came to Old Trafford for an epic Antipodean showdown but were treated instead to a supreme demonstration by the Kangaroos that they are among the very finest teams currently operating in any professional sport today.”
“…The disappointment of the home team just missing out on a place in the final was still palpable as the Manchester crowd evidently decided that England’s conquerors deserved their backing. Boos rang out for the Aussies in typical pantomime fashion in this Ashes winter, serving only to inspire them from the very start.”
The fans knew by half-time the final would be won by Australia.
Envy was replaced by admiration and hatred replaced by respect.
In the end, the most talented of villains eventually become heroes.
Like the galaxy far, far away’s Darth Vader, the Terminator cyborg made famous by Arnold Schwarzenegger and yes even a certain Tyrannosaurs Rex from Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park.
All are feared but eventually win the fans over with their thirst for destruction.
But this was no movie.
Like some of Hollywood’s greatest characters, in the Theatre of Dreams, Australia won the fans over.
Perhaps Hollywood’s next blockbuster might just feature Johnathan Thurston and a superstar cast of Kangaroos.
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