As 2012 draws to a close, it’s time for us to look back on the year of rugby in Australia.
There were both dizzying highs and nauseating lows, but for the most part the year was dominated by mediocrity. However, now is not the time for negatives (that will come in a few days). Today is the positives — the moments of the year I look back on with a smile. Here are my top five rugby moments of 2012, in a rough chronological order:
The rise of the Brumbies
Their roster looked average at best. They had finished 2011 in turmoil. They had a new foreign coach. They all had to live in Canberra. Things weren’t looking good for the Brumbies in 2012. Many pundits (as well as internet clowns such as me) tipped them for a low table finish, as it looked from the outside like they were one or two years away from being finals contenders.
But they made all the right noises in their extremely long pre-season, and won their first couple of games against weaker opponents. All of a sudden this team of virtual no-names (with a few exceptions) was sitting high on the table. And they just kept on winning. For 17 of the 18 weeks the Brumbies were the real deal: they looked so good that you weren’t talking about them making the finals, you were talking about them winning the comp.
Then the pressure got to them, and they stumbled in the last few rounds. But it was still a great season. I can’t wait to see how the team copes with ‘second year syndrome’. Will they fall away or kick on? I’m hoping they can follow the lead of the 2010 Reds, to which there are some strong similarities. It will also be great to see whether aforementioned ‘no-names’ Palmer, Fardy, Carter, Mowen, Aulea, White, Lealiifano, Coleman, Smith, Speight, Tomane and Mogg can take that extra step and secure gold jerseys for the big games at the back end of the season.
Reds v. Chiefs
The game of the year for mine — the 2011 champions against the team who would become the 2012 champions. And it played out like a heavyweight title fight. Both teams attacked ferociously at the breakdown, then spread the ball with reckless abandon. The Reds struck first but the Chiefs established their dominance in the first half, opening up a 22-8 lead. However a Ben Lucas try after the siren got the home side back in the game, and they continued on in the second half to turn the deficit into a 36-22 lead after tries to Higgers, Genia and Saia Faingaa. They then held off a late challenge from the visitors to win 42-27 in front of a packed house.
That game marked the resurgence of the Reds after their lean spell in the middle of the year. It showed they could still compete with the tournament leaders, and they were still the dominant Australian side. Check out the highlights below, and let’s hope we see a few more games like this in 2013.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov4Q6N9-BVM
Sharpie and Hooper
The old and the new. The battle-hardened warrior and the new kid on the block, unarguably our two best Wallabies of 2012. They played crucial roles in our wins, and were valiant in our losses.
Whilst the comparison between Sharpie and John Farnham may on the surface have merit, if you dig a little deeper you begin to see a few crucial differences. Sure, both broke commitments to retire. Repeatedly. But when Farnham launched his ‘Last Time’ tour, it was largely an appeal to his older fanbase — a trip down memory lane, if you will. No one wanted to hear ‘Man of the Hour’, they were all screaming for ‘You’re The Voice’, and rightly so. Farnsy hadn’t released a decent album since Chain Reaction dropped in late 1990, so his farewell tours were nostalgic reminders of how good he used to be.
Sharpie wasn’t so keen to rest on his laurels. Unlike Farnham, the standard of work he put out on the field in his final season was far more Whispering Jack than it was 33⅓. He was busting out new tracks every week, and they were bloody great songs. And unlike Farnham he retired on top, and never did any tacky commercials where he haunts Ford drivers. So I have to apologise to Farnham fans because it’s clearly game, set, match Sharpe here.
And plenty has been said about Hooper on here, much of it better than anything I could muster. So I’ll just leave it at this: what a fucking ripper player.
Wallaby ticker
Say what you want about our lack of style, skill or attacking endeavour, you can’t fault our ticker in 2012. We won plenty of knife-edge games where we stood up in the last ten minutes to get the job done. Twice we won with scoring plays on or after the buzzer (KB’s try and Mike Harris’s goal, both against the Welsh). We came back with late tries in both games against the Argies. We hung on for a draw against the All Blacks, and a win against Italy. When we got beaten, we were generally flogged. But when it was close we won on almost every occasion. In a year with few positives for the Wallabies, this was one. There is a glimmer of hope at the end of a long, dark tunnel, that if we can keep this level of perseverance and ticker against the Lions, and add the occasional try, we will be hard to beat.
THAT England game
The one game in 2012 where almost everything worked. The backs attacked skilfully. The forwards ripped in. The lineout and scrum were great. We even scored a ‘try’, that most mythical of scores that my grandparents are always raving on about. The Badger went vertical. And in lounge rooms across the nation, Wallaby fans were allowed to crack a rare smile. For this was a good day.
Let’s hope there are a few more of those days in 2013.
Did I miss anything? What were your favourite moments of 2012?
