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Here are some things that should cheer up Australian rugby fans
By
Jamie Wall
It’s been a tough old start to the Super Rugby season for Australian fans. In times like these it pays to remember the good times, writes Jamie Wall.
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Cheer up, Australian rugby fans! Despite the axe hovering above one of your Super Rugby teams and dubious claims that ballroom dancing has overtaken the fifteen-a-side code in popularity, history has shown that the Lucky Country has withstood far worse than this current crisis.
How quick are we to forget the good times? It was only three seasons ago that the Waratahs pulled off perhaps the best Super Rugby final win in the competition’s history. Let’s have a look at some of the other great Aussie moments of recent years.
The Brumbies: The most successful Australian side in the competition, the Canberra-based side have two titles to show for their 21 years of Super Rugby. Their GIO Stadium fortress remains one of the toughest destinations for visiting teams – whether that’s due to the Brumbies’ up-tempo game-plans or the fact it’s freezing cold and there’s just nothing to do in the Australian capital is up for debate. As well as being the launching pad for the careers of the likes of George Gregan, Stephen Larkham and Joe Roff, the Brumbies have also been home to former coach Laurie Fisher’s unique ‘homeless guy who got a makeover’ look.
The old-school Reds: While the Queensland Reds famously won Super Rugby in 2011 (then quickly regressed into the coach-torching also-rans they are today), it’s worth remembering they pretty much dominated the club game in this part of the world before it went pro. The Reds won the inaugural Super Six tournament in 1992, then back to back Super 10’s in ‘94-’95 with a team stacked with some of the world’s best players.
When the Rebels were Super Rugby’s party team: It’s true that the Rebels have never actually been any good, but they at least deserve some credit for beginning their existence as a booze-glazed office Xmas party disguised as a rugby team. The signing of noted party boy Danny Cipriani certainly showed their intentions early, and his antics obviously attracted the attention of walking headline Kurtley Beale soon after. They were in the news more often for running elusive moves in bars rather than on the park. These days the only thing the Rebels are at risk of getting kicked out of is the competition.
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Israel Folau’s 2014 season: The men in sky blue were red hot the year they finally answered their many critics, and it was due in no small part to the incredible season of Izzy Folau. The code-hopping fullback (you can probably pass over his brief and below-average stint at AFL) pretty much scored at will, picking up a hat-trick in the Tahs’ first game and continuing on from there. These days he’s been in the news more for his engagement to Kiwi netballer Maria Tutaia, which must make it kind of awkward for her when the Folau’s Wallabies play the All Blacks.
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The Butterfly Effect: Wallabies and butterflies, two of the animal kingdom’s most fearsome apex predators, are on show in this ad from the mid-2000’s. While this clearly was the result of a few too many drinks at the ARU’s advertising agency, it is a shame the team never actually employed the tactic of emerging from the tunnel before a game shrouded in lepidoptera.
Brad Thorn’s glorious career: Oh wait, he’s a Kiwi who just looks and sounds like an Aussie. Sorry.
