New Zealand once again clearly showed that it pretty much
owns the game of rugby.
Super Rugby Finals featuring New Zealand sides have often been
memorable epic encounters but the Final of 4 July 2015 must surely go down as
the best Super Rugby Final in history.
While the Hurricanes v Highlanders game didn’t quite turn
into the try-fest that many tipped based on both sides’ form, it was still
highly energetic, brutal and courageous at times. Both sides didn’t deserve to
lose but unfortunately, it was the home side, the Hurricanes who would be at
the wrong end of the biggest upset in any Final.
The Hurricanes had billed this game as their long awaited arrival
as champions and the perfect send-off for their stalwarts, Ma’a Nonu and Conrad
Smith. Their record in Wellington in 2015 had been incredible – losing only
once, scoring plenty of tries in the other games.
The Highlanders had had to travel from South Africa, then
Invercargill, Napier, Auckland, Dunedin, Sydney and Wellington in the last two
months so were a well travelled side – the Hurricanes had gotten their South
Africa tour done at the start of the season and bar a trip to Brisbane, had
been based in New Zealand since March.
Alas, having followed the Highlanders for 12 years as my
team since emigrating to New Zealand – Dunedin was my first port of call, hence
is my New Zealand hometown – I always knew that the Highlanders played their
best footie when they were the underdogs. The Final this weekend, and the
Semifinal last weekend in Sydney – and that Final back in 1999 - exemplified
that perfectly.
The Highlanders are a much better team than people make them
out to be – they do have that much heralded All Black laden backline and not
long ago, Liam Coltman was being hailed as a potential All Black hooker. After
his man-of-the-match performance, Elliot Dixon might still very well be in All
Blacks contention this season – his utility could be handy in a compressed
Rugby World Cup side particularly with Steven Luatua out for the season.
The fact is, the Highlanders are a start team with a star
coach who has sucked the best out of all his players this season – and has done
for the last 4 years since moving down from Wellington. Steve Hansen and the
All Blacks need to thank Jamie Joseph for developing Aaron Smith, Ben Smith,
Malakai Fekitoa and Waisake Naholo from unknowns into stars – and they probably
do.
For so long, Dunedin had been slowly declining from its
heyday as New Zealand’s richest city into a quiet backwater city in the South
Island – the likes of Hamilton, Tauranga, Napier/Hastings and Palmerston North
had overtaken it in the population rankings as more jobs and warmer weather
drew more people to those places.
Dunedin’s university and place in the South Island kept its
relevance going but a recent revival led by the construction of the new covered
stadium, the revival of the long forgotten Vogel Street precinct, and the
winning of Gigatown, has meant Dunedin is starting to come into the national
attention – this win in the rugby will earn this great Southern city even more
attention and there is no other team that fits the heritage, character and
heart of Dunedin than this year’s Highlanders.
Written off, too small, limited. Now Super Rugby champions.
After 12 forgettable seasons, witnessing history in
Wellington will be a sweet moment that will never be forgotten.
Go the Highlanders!
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