So often we measure the year that was by our successes and failures – but what of the moments that go beyond simply winning and losing? I decided to start a thread in the forums because I wanted know what would be the moments that individuals will remember, ones that will not be recorded in the history books but add up to the many reasons as to why we love rugby. With some help from members posts I’ve decided to go through some of the moments we remember from 2011.
Pat McCabe
What a story. I must admit that I was a detractor of Pat, I wasn’t on the bandwagon at all; in fact I think most of us had a one way ticket on the anti-McCabe express. Here was a bloke who had only had a few SupeRugby games at inside centre before Dingo gave him the call up to start there against Samoa. He put on a big hit early on in the Samoa game and then I didn’t see much of him for the rest of the game, although I did spend the rest of the game wiping Rod Davies blood off my glasses as he was repeatedly smashed by anyone dressed in blue.
Fast forward a couple of games and most of the Rugby public are starting to fall on either side of the McCabe fence, some love his crash ball and in your face defence, some saying he didn’t possess the distributing skills required for a 12. Either way, it worked well and combining with Ant Fainga’a we developed a centre combination of bash brothers not seen since the Mighty Ducks movies. We won the Tri-Nations decider and finally landed our hands on some decent silverware but there were many that still weren’t fans of Pat.
Move forward to the World Cup and McCabe scores a try against the yanks (didn’t everyone?) but leaves the field early after injuring his shoulder. At the time though most people are more worried about fellow bash brother Ant after he got KTFO late in the game. It turns out McCabe had subluxed his shoulder (an incomplete or partial dislocation – if you’ve done this you’ll admit it doesn’t tickle) and yet he fronts up 2 weeks later to play the Springboks. This is where he won me over.
Maybe time has distorted my memory of what happened but this is what I will always remember. Within the first couple of minutes you could tell that Pat had busted his shoulder again, it was taking him a while to recover after each tackle and he was often clutching his shoulder, pain showing clearly on his face. And yet in a game where the wallabies had less ball than a post-op transexual, McCabe kept on coming back for more punishment, making tackle after tackle with venom.
I nearly fell off my chair when he came back out after half time, I wasn’t there but I’m guessing he told the team doctor to politely bugger off. McCabe finally left the field after 53 minutes, his nose had been busted somewhere along the line and one arm clearly damaged and hanging limp from his body.
Bloody, bruised and broken McCabe had showed what playing for the wallabies meant for him. Oh, and if you’d forgotten, he also put off a shoulder reconstruction to front up against the All Blacks the next week. As I said after the game, Pharlap has a heart the size of McCabe.
Rebels first try, first win and the Army
In 2011 the rebels played their first ever SupeRugby game. Many people were wondering what Rod Macqueen would be able to do with such a varied group of international and local players, old heads and young kids. Few people outside of Melbourne thought they’d win a single game in their first season and the opening round 43-0 thrashing by the Tahs made it seem like they might not even be competitive. Trapped in the middle of AFL heartland, with a whitewash first up defeat the Rebels definitely had their backs to the wall.
One week later the Rebels were facing up against the most successful Australian franchise, the Brumbies. After a bunch of penalties and a try to Pat McCabe the Rebels were trialling 15-19 in the 71st minute until Cooper Vuna found some space on the wing close to the Brumbies 22. Vuna put on a Tongan sidestep and tried to charge straight through a Patrick Phibbs covering tackle before throwing a hail mary back infield to a charging Stirling Mortlock who crashed over the line.
What a moment! the captain scoring their first ever try to put them in the lead 20-19 with the conversion to come and just 8 minutes left in the game. Danny Cipriani slots the conversion to chants of the crowd roaring “Rebels! Rebels!”. Fast forward 5 minutes and the Brumbies are over the line for another try after what looked to be a very dubious pass from Adam Ashley-Cooper to try scorer Henry Speight. Giteau steps up for the sideline conversion and hits the upright, the conversion misses.
The scores are now 24-22 with the Brumbies leading and less than 5 minutes left to play. The clock ticks further down and with less than 2 minutes to go and the Rebels are awarded a penalty after a bit of push and shove from the Brumbies front row after a collapsed scrum; Danny Cipriani points straight at the posts.
This is it, Cipriani has 1 minute to take the kick and now there’s 48 seconds left on the clock. He slots it and the crowd goes absolutely mental. Kaplan surprisingly allows the Brumbies to kick off again, Huxley regathers, 40,000 Rebels pile into the ruck to secure it, Phipps passes the ball back to Cipriani who boots it into the crowd. What a game!
I would also like to quickly add that one of the things that made this game special and something that has stood out at every rebels home game has been the Rebel Army, a supporter group started by one of our own forum members Army Gav. To Gav and the Army, thanks for showing all other states how to support their team and promoting the game in enemy territory. Best of luck to the Rebels next year.
Stay tuned for part 2 – what were your rugby moments of 2011?
