A Weekend in Enemy Territory

When the ACT Brumbies came from behind to win their semi final against the Bulls in Pretoria, in the excitement and shock of the result was only a passing realisation that we were going to be in the Super 15 final the following week. Mostly, the initial reaction consisted of consideration of what an epic and unprecedented victory it was, making it possibly the Brumbies' greatest ever win and perhaps the most history-defying of any in Super Rugby.

It's not to say that I had written the game off as lost or didn't believe we had a good team, just that it's only wise to be realistic about these things. The previous week I'd sat in the sub-arctic conditions of Canberra Stadium watching them only just sneak through against the Cheetahs, and no team had beaten the Bulls in the altitude of Loftus Versfeld all year, and never since the dawn of time in a finals game.

So it was probably a couple of hours after I'd watched Tevita Kuridrani's match-winning try (go to 7 minutes into this video) that it really dawned on me that the Brumbies would be playing in Hamilton to decide the title, and that I had to be there. Luckily my wife loves adventures as much as I do, and was on board straight away. A few frequent flyer points later and we had flights across the ditch.

The week leading up to the final was a bit chaotic. The agents organising the Brumbies travel packages took longer than expected to contact us about the specific information, making it difficult to make plans. On the Tuesday I was quoted on the front page of the Waikato Times after being dobbed in by Sarah as a representative Brumby travelling for the game.

Sarah in Her New Jersey

After being told the Brumbies packages were for accommodation in Auckland and not Hamilton as we'd hoped, we decided we'd go out on a limb and try to get tickets ourselves instead of through the Brumbies. Our thinking was that if we were going to fly to New Zealand for a game, we wanted to get the full experience with the fans. Who knew if anyone in Auckland even cared? If we won, who then would want to get in a bus and take the 1.5 hour trip to some hotel in Auckland? And worse, if we lost who would want to sit and stew with understandably disappointed fans?

So, on Wednesday I was again quoted, this time making disparaging comments about Auckland, which I'm sure the good people of Hamilton ate up happily.

You Need To Be Prepared...

Eventually we got our hands on tickets and could start to relax and prepare for the trip. I'd always wanted to see what it's like being the fan of an away team in rugby. I'd once gone along to a NY Rangers ice hockey game in Montreal colours, which I'd thought wouldn't be too bad. I'd forgotten that if there's anything worse to an American ice hockey fan than being Canadian, it was being FRENCH Canadian. Fortunately for our safety the Rangers won comfortably, and apart from being yelled abuse and threatened in the men's room we got off without any damage.

Kiwi rugby fans took a massive blow to their reputation at the 2011 World Cup from their abuse of Wallaby fans, and while I haven't seen anything too bad at the Bledisloe Tests I'd seen in Australia, I'm aware how little humour they can have about it. Mostly though I was looking forward to seeing how the Waikato fans would treat us. Realistically, the worst possibility we could expect was to get verbal abuse, which I knew we could handle.

Flying into Auckland in my Brumbies jersey I was beside myself with excitement, although as expected no one there seemed too passionate about it. As it turned out the next day we were told that most of them actually wanted us to win just to stop their neighbour winning the title, but all I got was the immigration official and the bus driver to Hamilton asking if we were there for the game. Still, the anticipation grew on the bus ride into town, seeing the stadium lights and seeing the Chiefs posters and flags.

First task - fly the Brumbies colours on the main street of town by hanging the scarf from the hotel window. A small but symbolic gesture.

Minor Contribution to Brumbies Presence in Hamilton

We spent the time during the day walking the streets, at one point buying blue, yellow and white face paint, nail polish (for Sarah), and a wig. Occasionally we would run into Brumby fans and wave, or get some friendly heckling from a local. At lunch in Hood St, where the town was getting set up for the post game party, we were interviewed for the nightly news, who were fascinated by an American girl being in town for the game.

After Interview With the Waikato News Team

By late afternoon the game preparation got serious with a trip to The Helm, the pub organised as a Brumbies meeting place. On arrival it was clear that there were several hundred Brumby fans in town, all in the one spot, and we enjoyed a couple of beers in the only friendly territory we had all weekend. After a while injured players filed in and I had some photos taken with Wallabies David Pocock and Pat McCabe, who was just about the friendliest guy you could hope to meet.

Keen to get to the stadium we headed off about an hour and a half before the game. Stopping at one point to have a photo taken in front of the stadium, one fan yelled gruffly "You won't be smiling later!"

Entering the stadium grounds we found ourselves literally the only away fans out of hundreds of early arrivals, with the vast majority of Brumbies fans receiving tickets on the opposite side of the ground. Life was about to get interesting. While Sarah went to the bathroom, I noticed a room under the stands with people having a few pregame drinks, and when Sarah emerged we went to investigate, only to find that it was the Waikato Rugby Supporters Club. Thinking surely we wouldn't be welcome in there we had a quick look through the window before heading off, only to find a table of Chiefs fans waving us in. Heading to the door, they'd told security to allow us in, and we signed in the book our names and home town.

The Waikato Rugby Supporters Club

"SYDNEY?!?!" They cried, not quite believing we'd come that far. We went and bought a couple of $7 longnecks and sat ourselves at their table, where they made us feel a lot more welcome than I'd expected at the game.

Tucked under the eastern stand and with walls adorned with the usual memorabilia and plaques of a local rugby club, the room housed fans of the local Waikato team in the local competition as well as the Super 15 side. We bought tickets to the raffles, had our photos taken and were presented with their club pin, with their mascot Moo-Loo (a rugby playing cow).

Taking our seat before the game we found ourselves seated in between very chatty Chiefs fans. You could tell the feeling was they were pretty confident of the result, but they seemed to respect that we had come over anyway and so were courteous. This was good, because apart from the three Brumby fans a few rows in front of us and a couple more up in the back of the stand, we were all alone.

As the game started and we built ourselves a nice little lead, I jumped up with every score and was congratulated by those around me (although I think I got told at one point to sit down by someone a few seats away). When we scored our try though, I started to quiet down. Suddenly there was a prospect of winning the game, and I knew I'd sit through the rest of the match just tense and hoping for it to be over, with the points in our favour.

Pregame Entertainment Was Actually Kind Of Impressive

At half time I made a pit stop in the gents room. One guy eyeballed me on his way out, and said "gee, brave man", but that was about the worst I got all weekend.

The second half started well but it became obvious when the Chiefs parked themselves on our line around the 65th minute that we were holding on by the tips of our fingers. The travel started to catch up with us, and suddenly the Chiefs were up. To their credit, the Brumbies didn't give up, attacking up to the last minute, but clearly making fatigue-based errors, and we stood and saluted the Chiefs as worthy winners.

You have to hand it to the local fans. Without exception they congratulated us on our team and admitted they were shaken for a while. The lady next to me asked for my hat, and I was happy to give it to her. In return she gave me her son's Waikato jersey for their local team. I only found out later her son must be about 7 years old, so it was not much use to me, but the gesture was nice.  In the Waikato supporters room we swapped scarves with their fans, and they gave us so much Chiefs gear we don't know what to do with it all.

Our Chiefs Loot Given To Us After the Game...Fingerless Gloves Anyone?

We spent the next couple of hours with their fans, enjoying the atmosphere and allowing their good company to soothe the pain of defeat. It reminded me why I love rugby. Like the Lions Tour showed, it has a way of bringing opposition teams together with respect and sportsmanship that other sports don't have. As one of the club members said before the game, it didn't matter who won the game, it's just great being around people who love rugby. Even though we unfortunately didn't get to see what they would be like if we'd won, they definitely deserve the benefit of the doubt.

We finished up with a quick trip down to Hood St to see the festivities, but it was a very young crowd and we didn't stay long. A couple of groups of young guys heckled us on our way home, but they were just being loud for their mates, and interestingly they did so while always maintaining as large a radius as the footpath would allow.

It hurts having lost the game, even if it was honourably, maybe more so now that I've been able to reflect on how close it was, the try that wasn't allowed because of lack of evidence and what could have been. On the other hand, there are worse things than coming a close second and getting to meet great people we otherwise never would have known. After all, we could be Waratahs fans.