The Day of all Days
Stunned, speechless, disbelief – and that was just seeing Hori fit into my dear friend Don’s clapped out Nissan Sunny now converted into the Mafia mobile!! It was a day for the anything is possible brigade…
The day unfortunately dawned wet and windy, being of particular concern as this mafia member had left his trench coat behind and after watching one of the more forgettable performances by the AB’s one wasn’t quite in the greatest of moods.
However a small quiet confidence was there with-in the soul, for some strange reason I’d been dreaming about the final whistle going and us Bay fans leaping up and down with delirium. Listening to some idiot radio-host on radio sport further buoyed this optimism with him quoting “Lets be real here the only surprise will be if Auckland don’t win by 30 to 40 points!!” One hopes that this colossus of rugby wisdom currently isn’t in hospital recovering from a heart attack after seeing the final score as undoubtedly the TAB will miss his sage-like rugby tipping advice terribly. The more they under-rate us, the better our chances of winning I thought, however my opinion of Murray Deaker reached new levels when he said shortly after the above quote from the Son of Solomon that it was going to be a tough match and a “difficult” task for Auckland to keep the shield. Bless him, for once he was right.
Anyway we set up forth to the Bombay service station to set forth the convoy to Eden park, the congregating went rather well, but with all amateur organisations our dispatching wasn’t quite up to scratch. We did however arrive there all in one piece – which was the most important thing. Miraculously by now the weather had cleared, quite a relief as it meant that we didn’t have to huddle together to preserve body heat, or burn the terrace seating in order to keep warm.
Led resolutely by Hori BOP we camped ourselves down the front of the terraces and began to gather other like-minded fans around us. Special mention for sheer volume must be given here to our Auckland student Mafia contingent, the vocal chords lubricated up nicely by the hilariously ironical choice of keg ale - Ranfurly.
The stadium though, was half empty, which must have been great inspiration to the kids out there playing as a curtain raiser for the shield. “One day Son, if you try hard enough and put all the hard work in, you’ll be able to defend the Ranfurly shield in front of a paltry scattering of disinterested Auckland supporters in a near-empty stadium where the opposition supporters out-number you. Mark my words Son, remember this day and never let go of the goal”.
Obviously the Auckland crowds were all waiting for the more “competitive” teams to challenge for the shield. The Sky-City cheerleaders however were obviously waiting for their next Showgirls roster, the rather uncomplicated gyrating, crawling on all fours, rolling on the ground moves exposing prosthetic enhancements and strapping were impressive if the family focus of such a routine was to attract frustrated husbands and their over-sexed teenage boys…
And then onto the game, it was for me anyway for the first 10 minutes terrifying. I was just hoping that the Bay wouldn’t go to custard and get over-awed with the occasion and let in a couple of soft tries to put them on the back foot early. As is was this didn’t eventuate, Auckland packed their mid-field with their big runners and the Bay never backed down in hitting them to the ground, Nili Latu in particular tackled in a fashion that denied self-preservation, smashing into props 30kg heavier than himself with a reckless abandon one can only marvel at, marvelling only exceeded by the fact that he comes off the field in one piece. The Bay in particular were very committed in the breakdown, getting there quickly and getting their hands on the ball to slow it down resulting in Auckland being repeatedly penalised for holding onto the ball in the tackle – more often than not after incisive attacking runs in good field position.
Despite this, and some excellent scrambling defence Auckland drew first blood with a well-taken try in the far corner, then ensured a nerve racking see-saw battle of scoring and lead swapping through-out the game. Jackson, in the form of his life broke through the defensive line a fed Grant McQuoid for the Bay’s first try. We were elated, but still behind on the scoreboard, Gibson then scored a soft try for Auckland to further stretch their lead and for not the last time in the day I admit my head went down and doubts about the out-come began to surface.
Thankfully however the Bay were determined to prove me wrong, never once (unlike this shame-faced fan) did they appear doubtful or down and repeatedly threw themselves into the fray with renewed vigour and consistency that has been sorely lacking in Bay rugby. The team had resolve, grit and most importantly composure and not to mention a contingent of mad screaming fans on the terraces backing they’re every move. There was no catastrophic meltdown that we’ve come to expect, no Hail Mary passes or brain explosions - just a relentless team performance with the out-standing skills of Jackson providing the final thrust.
That man again Jackson (can you say Carlos Spencer who??) Kept the Bay in the game with his trusty boot and of course treated us to a trade-mark intercept, despite not having the pace to go all the way from the ensuring rucks the Bay held their composure (see that word composure again) resulting in Jacko (for All Black captain) throwing a dummy to Mr Nobody on the wing and running around Tuilevu to score the try in much the same fashion one does in a pre-season game of touch.
Tuilevu went off shortly after injured, personally I would have asked for a spade and shovel and buried myself in the far corner of the ground if I had been him but each to their own. By now the Bay had stretched out to a 20-15 lead, a lead that could have been shared going into the break if it wasn’t for good old Sione Lauaki remembering his Chiefs roots and dropping the ball with the line open, perhaps this was going to be the Bay’s day…
Come half-time I was so absorbed in the game that I didn’t realise that the Bay had played the first half into the wind, surely Jacko’s reliable boot would keep Auckland pinned in their own half and the penalties would keep coming I thought. Of course though there were still a few twists and surprises left in the game. Auckland came out strong in the second half, keeping possession away from the Bay and when Isa Nacewa flew in to score from a grubber it was Auckland 25-20 ahead with 20 minutes gone and the Bay hadn’t scored a point in the second half. Again the outlook looked grim, it appeared that the Shield was slipping away but again – back came the Bay. A penalty to the Bay after an extended period of pressure put the score back to 25-23 and we were back in it.
Again roared forward the Bay, Auckland appeared to the running out of ideas and then, as if from the heavens a magical moment appeared, initially our devoted bunch on the terraces roared as the ref indicated advantage to the Bay (though admittedly we roared when-ever a penalty, scrum feed, lineout take went the Bay way also, but that’s beside the point). A drop kick sailed forth from 40m out, I don’t recall wether I was yelling or holding my breath but after it went over I sure as hell was making some noise. A drop kick in a game is often a back-breaker, one second it looks like your totally safe and the first-5 is just kicking to touch and the next you know your jogging up to the halfway with-out the lead, it’s rugby version of a sucker punch – especially in a tight contest. Not long was to go, us fans on the terraces set ourselves for a furious session of nail-biting as the clock ticked down, by now sitting down was not an option (a point not missed by the rugby commentators also).
The next few minutes were a blur, until that blessed Rua Tupoki shredded the Auckland mid-field to pieces and Jacko threw a long pass to Tahana to dive over in the corner. A mryiad of emotion’s followed joy, rapture, “Yes we’ve scored a try” disbelief, doubt “Oh no they’re going to the video referee” joy rapture “It looks good on the replay” disbelief doubt “Why are they showing it again” cheers of an unfeasibly loud volume “Heavens be praised, they’ve given it”.
Of course, like any Bay supporter with a good memory 1996 came back to haunt, we were in the lead by 6 points, we could still lose it to a late try, the conversion was critical. The conversion however was from the sideline, on the side of the field sheltered from the backing wind and in the wet. The kicker how-ever was Jackson, the ball was struck, it looked good, it was on line, it looked like it was going to fall short, it seemed certain that it was going to fall short, it made it over by about 2cm. It was the loudest cheer for a conversion I’ve ever heard and certainly the most dancing about on terrace seating that I’ve ever done for a conversion. It was 5 minutes to go and we were 8 points ahead; then the stadium clock died we had no idea what the game time was and Auckland were pressing towards our line, fingernails were getting shorter by the second. Then after a period of what seemed like an eternity the dammed thing came back on, we had 2 minutes to go, we were still 8 points ahead. We counted down the last 15 seconds, we danced on seats, we laughed as Auckland lined up the last penalty goal, we were struck with disbelief of the good variety this time – we had almost done it.
Ward struck the ball, it went over, the full time whistle was blown and ironically it was the team that had conceded the points that threw their hands in the air upon hearing the final whistle. Our Mafia contingent and by now sizable crowd that had gathered around us went mad, we leapt for joy, we high-fived and backslapped, I confess that I hugged other males, the demons of 1996 and 94 years of failure disappeared.
We had beaten Auckland on their home patch, on their home ground and we had come from behind to do it. 80 minutes of toil and valour and rugby folklore had expended themselves in truly the place where rugby is played in heaven – Eden Park, and I was there, and the Ranfurly Shield, for the first time in history – was in the Bay. It was, the day of all days for Bay rugby.