It may not be as big as the NSW v Qld rivalry, but the ACT and NSW have had some interesting battles over the years. Although Super Rugby commenced in 1996, the battles and niggles on and off the field between the two had been ongoing for some 20 years before then.
The first documented game was in 1975 at a bleak oval in South Canberra at Narrabundah, not far from the current Brumbies training base. Well before this correspondent’s time, a trip to the National archives shows the NSW team getting up 14-12.
The ACT were a competitive team around this era, as wins against Tonga in 1973 and a remarkable victory over reigning 5 Nations holders Wales in 1978 in front of what was probably most of Canberra, with a crowd of 10,000 jammed in to Manuka Oval, showed they weren’t the pushovers many thought they would be. There were many other games between the two, with NSW winning most of the games, and when played in Canberra were usually played as mid week games where a few blokes and probably his dog turned up the headquarters of ACT Rugby, Rugby Park in Ainslie.
1994 was a watershed year when the ACT beat NSW in Sydney which led to the introduction of the Canberra Kookaburras into the Sydney competition in 1995. The Canberra team was basically made up of the best club players in the ACT. The success of this team in making the Grand Final in their first year was the beginning of bigger things to come.
When the Super 10 became the Super 12, the ACT were awarded the 3rd franchise in Australia, many high ranking ARU officials were probably crossing their fingers that the team ‘down the road from Sydney’ wouldn’t disgrace themselves on the world stage. On the other hand, were rubbing their hands with glee waiting for them to fall flat on their faces. Expected to finish last in the first season and made up of a few local players, has beens and never-will-bes from NSW and Queensland, the Brumbies surprised many by finishing 5th – 2 places above the Waratahs. Maybe it had something to do with the coach, Rod Macqueen, who had previously coached NSW and had been shown the door after a terrific 1991 season? Or maybe it was the closeness of the players in Canberra, where they lived together in ‘Melrose Place’ and the mentality of ‘we’ll show you!’ that got them off to a good start?
This would have made blood boil in Sydney as the players they let go to Canberra were starting to ruffle feathers, particularly in Wallaby circles. Sometimes known as ‘Randwick South’ due to the number of Randwick players on the books, the team made the final in just its 2nd year. That year saw the Brumbies play NSW at home and pretty much flog them 56-9 and could have been the turning of the tide at National level.
Early on there were calls from some Sydney media types to move the Canberra franchise to Melbourne of Perth, but those moves have been resisted and were basically a tactic to de-stabilise to close knit Brumbies environment.
Since then there have been many players who have played for both teams who moved for various reasons. Some left one team and then started to play for the Wallabies and some swapped, never to be heard of again. However, there are some players who would never even consider playing for the opposition – Gregan, Larkham, Roff and Kafer to name just a few.
In recent times the significance of the rivalry has unfortunately taken a back seat. Back in the day, a couple of characters would be wheeled out in the week leading up to the game, telling all and sundry about the ‘good old days’ when what happened in the murky depths of a ruck went unnoticed by match officials or how hard done by they were because the opposition had an armchair ride to representative honours. Maybe with the professional game we now know, players aren’t aware of or simply don’t care about the olden days and just want to see their pay in the bank.
The record shows that in Super Rugby they have met 15 times with the score at 8 wins to the Brumbies and 7 to the ‘Tahs. Of these encounters the Brumbies are in front in the points scoring stakes by 399-325 and have outscored 55 tries to 33. That result is be skewed by the blow out scores in 1997 and the semi final of 2002 where the Brumbies won 51-10. Interestingly, each team has only won once in the opposition territory. This is the first time a regular season match has been played away from the SFS or Canberra Stadium.
Over to you boys….
