Lads, take a seat. Take the headphones out of the ears and listen to what I have to say for just one minute.
Australia, you gather round too. But I’ll get to you later.
Boys, in the next 80 minutes you have a chance to achieve immortality. This is not a normal game, or even a special one. It is a deciding Test against the Lions, and what happens on the field will stay in the memory of every man, woman and child who saw it until they take their final breath 100 years from now.
Test match rugby turns boys into men. Deciding Lions Tests allow men a rare opportunity to transcend mortality and take their place at the right-hand side of the rugby gods. To sit next to Seddon and talk of the first Lions in 1888, or Tom Richards, a war hero and Wallaby champion.
Or talk to Bob Loudon, the first Wallaby captain to taste series success against the Lions in 1930. Willie John McBride and Jim Telfer are there, and so are Nick Farr-Jones, Brian Moore and Ian McGeechan. And let’s not forget the most recent vintage- Johnson and Robinson, Roff and Eales, and Justin fucking Harrison.
These men have etched their names in the memories of millions, and their feats are still talked about today- at family barbecues, on junior rugby sidelines, and over the bar with a schooner in hand.
Gentlemen, tonight you have your chance to become one of those names.
Tonight you don’t just represent Australia. You represent 125 years of battles between the Lions and Wallabies. Every bloke who has pulled on that jersey before you will be out there tonight, as you write another chapter of Wallaby history.
Every kick, every pass and every tackle in those 125 years has been building to this moment, right now. It’s all on the line, and all you need to do is reach out and grab it.
This game will be played out in backyards around the nation for decades to come. Six-year-olds in ill-fitting jerseys, dreaming of their heroes in their finest hour. Will it be your name they shout when they score the winning try in the flowerbed?
Tonight is for Wallabies past and future. Tonight is for Australians past and future. Tonight is for every struggler who has ever dreamed of wearing Wallaby gold, and laced up the boots to have a crack on Saturday. For every mum who stood and cheered on the sideline, for every dad who spent hours with the BBQ tongs in his hands outside the clubhouse. This is for every one of the 84,000 people who are in the stadium tonight, or the millions in pubs and homes around the nation.
This is the night you stop becoming a player, and start becoming a legend.
AUSTRALIA!! I haven’t forgotten about you.
This is your team. These are your Wallabies. Forget your petty grievances and state allegiances. Forget the past, and discard all thoughts of the future. There is only Saturday.
Wear gold and scream your lungs out. Don’t worry about waking the neighbours- they will be doing exactly the same as you. And if they aren’t then they fucking well should be.
These men are shedding blood for you, and deserve every ounce of support you can give them. Tonight will be a night that will live in your memory just as long as it will in theirs. You have as much skin in the game as they do. YOU are playing the Lions tonight. Will you rise to the challenge?
Win, lose or draw, Australia, you MUST support them with everything you have. Because you’d better believe the fattened Brits and pasty Paddies will be doing everything in their power to stop your dreams, to stop OUR dreams.
This is the moment. This is the place. This is the time. The time to stand up and be counted as a team, and as a nation. The time to create moments that promise to live longer than we will.
WE ARE AUSTRALIA!!
WE ARE THE WALLABIES!!
CAAAAAARRRRRNNNNN YOU WALLABIES!!!!!
