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Justin Harrison: Wallabies have forgotten how many beers fit in the Bledisloe Cup

John Eales and Justin Harrison with the Bledisloe Cup. Photo / Nick Wilson/ALLSPORT

Former Wallabies lock Justin Harrison has done something members of the current squad can only dream of – taken a drink from the Bledisloe Cup.

Harrison met the All Blacks six times in his 34-test career, beating the men in black on four of those occasions.

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“We certainly lost the dancing comp before the game but we won more stuff on the field,” Harrison said during his appearance on the Fox Rugby Podcast.

Harrison chimed in on the current state of rugby in Australia and also gave insight into an old tradition.

“Knowing exactly how many cans of beer go into filling up the Bledisloe Cup is unfortunately not something that many Wallabies probably know at the moment,” Harrison said.

“It’s about 25 — just over a case.”

The Wallabies have gone 16 years without holding the Bledisloe, a record drought that began after the snapping of a five-year Wallaby reign.

Harrison experienced that success as part of the side from 2001 to 2004, and is now hoping to experience success off the field after succeeding Stephen Hoiles as general manager of the Classic Wallabies.

“That ‘ex’ word is too traumatic I feel — once you’re a Wallaby you’re always a Wallaby, whether you’re lacing or not,” Harrison said.

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“The main objective is to keep them connected and that golden thread running through us all alive.

“And it’s not ring fenced to Wallabies or national reps — there’s a lot of other people connected that make this the great sport it is.

“So it’s facilitating a group of people that can engage the community, the alumni.

“You’re risking your life, pretty much, to play, and dedicating the formative part of your life to sport, to entertaining others.

“We’re not a welfare or a charity — we’re a group of men and women who have a real requirement to stay connected.

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“The Classic Wallabies will play a very important role in galvanising that strategic alignment around those areas and making sure everyone’s embraced from top to bottom.”

44-year-old Harrison also spoke about his famous series-clinching lineout steal against the Lions that he made while on debut in 2001.

“Here’s a fact that not many people will believe, given what they’ve seen me do most often, but I didn’t drink for 48 hours after that Test — not a drop,” Harrison said.

“Because I was told by everyone how quickly it goes and you’ve got to remember every minute.

“I was terrified of getting on the beers because I didn’t want to have that forgetful part where you lose time, if you have too many beers and that hangover.

“So I just wanted to be awake and aware for as long as possible.

“I certainly made up for it in the 49th hour but up until then, that’s probably one of the most vivid memories of my life, those two days after the Test.”

Rugby World Cup City Guides – Oita:

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

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