Oh, no. Here we go again. The Brumbies are within reach of a finals spot, and all of a sudden their arch-nemesis, The Canterbury Crusaders, loom on the horizon.
Forever the Achilles heel of the brave Canberra lads, we’ve come to loathe the ruthless Crusaders over the last 16 years. Here are just a few reasons why.
1. Saturday 27 May 2000
It’s hard to imagine a Super Rugby Final being played this early in the year, but so it was in days of yore. In the Olympic year, Australian sport teams felt on top of the world, but that was until The Crusaders arrived at Bruce Stadium to contest the cup.
Sadly the visiting team brought the weather with them (it snowed during the match) and, with conditions much better suited to the invaders, the visiting side managed to hold out The Brumbies until the last minutes of the game with the score in their favour at 19-20. The Crusaders gave away a penalty, Stirling Mortlock stepped up for the kick, the packed house held its breath… and the ball sailed past the outside of the post.
As Brumbies fans and players shivered in the cold, The Crusaders celebrated their third title in a row.
2. The All Blacks
It seems that The America’s Cup is the only trophy harder to win than The Bledisloe. For the last 120 years or so, the All Blacks have raided Australian shores and taken ‘Bill’ back across the ditch for yet another round of celebrations and general taunting.
Forever, it has seemed that all The Crusaders do is swap their red jerseys for black ones and then flog us again. Not so much the case in the last few years, but man… it was so relentless.
3. Robbie Deans
Carlton fans may have reeled at the decision to take Mick Malthouse from Collingwood, however that doesn’t even compare to selecting Robbie Deans as the coach of the Australian Wallabies from 2008 to 2015.
It felt like the ultimate exercise in self-destruction. How can a Kiwi possibly be trusted as coach? Well, it panned out as many though it would: can you guess how many titles the ex-All Black and ex-Crusaders coach won for the Green-and-gold during his six year stint at the top of Australian rugby.
Got it? Yeah, that’s right…. Bloody none!
4. Richie McCaw
Seriously. Richie *&$#)@% McCaw.
5. They Let NSW Win a Title
If there’s one team that might cause Brumbies fans as much grief as The Crusaders (and it’s pretty close), then it must be The NSW Waratahs. Forever the seat of power for Australian Rugby, it’s been a joy to taunt the ‘Tahs with our two trophies.
The margin narrowed last year as The Crusaders, seemingly in control of the match, gave away another late match penalty (see Point 1). This time, the opposition didn’t miss, and the Waratahs got their own nah-nah-ne-nah-nah at The Brumbies, whom they’d seen off in the Semi Final.
Boo. To. That.
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Still, we need to be grateful for some things. In 2003, The Crusaders flogged The Waratahs 96-13. That’s awesome. The half-time score was 63-0, which makes you think perhaps the the ball-boys were packing down the scrum for the second half while the rest of the forwards prepared a hungi behind the tryline that they’d been camping in for the first 40 minutes.
