Bledisloe: blood, sweat, tears, beers
Contrary to popular belief, the Bledisloe Cup doesn’t reside permanently in New Zealand. In fact, there was a time when the Wallabies had a stranglehold on the trophy. Richard Knowler reports.
Rumour has it the Bledisloe Cup holds 33 cans of beer. Not that calculating the volume of beer required to fill the giant trophy was at the forefront of Reuben Thorne’s mind when he finally took possession of the trophy after the All Blacks beat the Wallabies 21-17 at Eden Park in Auckland in 2003.
He just wanted to get his hands on it. And if he had applied adhesive to his hands before grabbing the silverware, you couldn’t have blamed him.
Because as the former All Blacks captain explains, he had already experienced plenty of ‘‘heartbreak’’ while in pursuit of the cup gifted by Lord Bledisloe to the New Zealand and Australian rugby unions in the early 1930s.
For five years it had been in the Wallabies’ possession; it was, and remains, the longest period the All Blacks have been denied the Bledisloe Cup.
This turbulent period in the All Blacks’ history resulted in blood on the NZ Rugby boardroom floor, with three different coaches taking the helm between 1998 and 2003. Four test captains were also tried and discarded as the coaches searched for ways to knock the mighty Wallabies off their perch.
Given their string of successes against the Aussies – the trophy has never left New Zealand since Thorne lifted it above his head 16 years ago – it’s difficult to imagine the deep disappointment the All Blacks players must have felt as they trudged back to the sheds after those defeats.
An earlier win in Sydney – the All Blacks had smashed their opponents 50-21 – had set up the showdown in Auckland in 2003, and this was another chance to finally end the drought.
‘‘Some of the losses we had in
1999, 2000 and leading into 2003 . . . it was pretty heartbreaking,’’ Thorne said.
‘‘It was at times only one point, or there was the time John Eales kicked that penalty in Wellington [to give the Wallabies a 24-23 win in
2000]. So many of the games ended like that . . . it was pretty hard to swallow.
‘‘When we finally did win, it was a relief to finally get our hands on it [the cup]. And leading into the World Cup, it helped to know we could handle the pressure.’’
Fittingly, it was blindside flanker Thorne who helped the All Blacks defend their lead towards the end of the game by calling the final lineouts to ensure hooker Anton Oliver kept throwing him the ball.
‘‘I remember right at the end of the game we were under a huge amount of pressure and we just managed to hang on,’’ Thorne admits.
‘‘That was what all those Bledisloe Cup games were like.
‘‘It’s a really hard trophy to get a hold of. Once the other team has got it, it’s so hard to get it back. We certainly faced that.’’ Reuben Thorne
They were pretty tough.’’
Yes, Thorne says, there was elation when referee Jonathan Kaplan blew time. But there was also immense relief; it was as if a giant valve had been twisted and the pressure had begun to ease.
During the buildup Thorne and his fellow All Blacks didn’t need to be reminded of how much the Bledisloe meant.
The All Blacks talked about it with a number of former test players, and Thorne remembers the late Sir Brian Lochore relaying some memorable stories about his experiences.
It seems inconceivable that the Wallabies have been unable to win back the trophy since Thorne and his team-mates carted it back to their changing room in 2003.
But, as Thorne notes, the holder has a massive advantage because of the way the test calendar is mapped out.
‘‘No, I wouldn’t have thought it would have been this long,’’ he admits. ‘‘But then again it was very hard for us to get our hands on it because of the way [the series] is structured.
‘‘It’s a really hard trophy to get a hold of. Once the other team has got it, it’s so hard to get it back. We certainly faced that.’’
Thorne, who works as an assistant coach for Canterbury in the Mitre 10 Cup, expects the All Blacks to light the fuse at Eden Park tonight after they were thumped 47-26 in Perth last weekend.
A loss will not only give the Wallabies a massive confidence boost ahead of the World Cup, there is also potential to fuel the All Blacks’ anxieties.
Thorne said it was difficult to make a judgment on the decision to shift openside flanker Ardie Savea to No 6 for the test in Perth.
‘‘I don’t know. Personally I am not 100 per cent convinced, yet. I understand the thinking there because he [Savea] has been in such sensational form that you want to get him on the park.
‘‘It is just those combinations clicking together, so they are all complementing each other.’’
We may know more tonight. Clearly it will help if the All Blacks can keep 15 men on the track after lock Scott Barrett was red carded in Perth.
Savea is, again, expected to pack down at No 8 for attacking scrums with captain Kieran Read shifting to blindside flanker.
The question is whether the new back row combination of Sam Cane, Savea and Read can click and use their talents at snaring turnovers and carrying the ball to soften up up the Aussies.
‘‘It is about understanding how each other works,’’ Thorne explained.
‘‘Because these guys spend a lot of time competing against each other as sevens for opposition teams and now they have to work together as a unit on the field.
‘‘When you are used in a different role, it just takes a bit of time. And they have to work through that.’’