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The Golden Decade

HISTORY CAN BE TURNED ON A MOMENT. OR A SERIES OF MOMENTS .

NORMAN TASKER looks at Rugby’s Golden Decade, now celebrated in a significant collectable, and reasons that glory boils down to millimetres.

Moments of magic or moments of desperation? Both, it would seem, since in sport the two often go together. To the real winners of elite competition, desperation draws the magic. The thrilling finish, the win against the odds, the drama of a desperate last act are the hallmarks of true sporting achievers, particularly at the high end where standards are even and victories are won in inches. So it has proved with the Wallabies through a glorious decade of Rugby achievement. The Golden Decade is captured in a new collectors’ piece from Legends Genuine Memorabilia, suggested by a Rugby buff (see accompanying story) and presented with photo-graphs that freeze the magic moments of an extraordinary period and boast the signatures of the principal characters.

As a collector’s item limited to 500 units, its breadth of appeal is centred in the comprehensivity of the special events it captures. As an historical record, however, it portrays something more, projecting outstanding success as a very fickle thing, and underlining the finest of lines between the depths and the peaks of international endeavour for the outstanding Rugby team of the decade.

This was an era in which Australia won two World Cups, grabbed a record tenure of the Bledisloe Cup, won the Tri Nations Trophy, had their first ever home series-win against the British and Irish Lions, and defeated, in most cases repeatedly, every major Rugby nation on earth.

Yet in at least five of the seven critical moments captured in this remarkable collection, it could all so easily have gone the other way. The desperation indeed required significant magic, mostly in the last seconds of play, to turn defeat into victory and to maintain a golden decade that might very well have been a sordidly muddy decade indeed.

That unhappy alternative, of course, fails to take into account the character inherent in Wallaby Rugby which, since the 1991 World Cup, has generated at least two champion teams, and turned Australia from a battler on the world stage to a trend-setter. There is no doubt, despite the narrow squeaks which the Golden Decade piece presents, that Australia have led the way in a professional Rugby environment that requires levels of planning, innovation, preparation and business management not previously experienced.

At the end of all this, when the winning and the losing of big matches is in the hands of the players alone, it comes down to character. Preparation and management have much to do with developing this, as does leadership on the field.

Australian teams through the decade have assumed a character and a confidence that does not allow them to accept defeat. In every crucial circumstance, when the chips are down, they have had the reserves to coolly put things right – to win when all seemed lost.

This is the great legacy that the Golden Decade commemorates. A level of grace under pressure that is the preserve of champions alone. For that reason especially it is an iconic piece that will be looked back on decades down the track as a record of Australia’s dramatic awakening as a Rugby power.

The seven moments recorded are:
° The Michael Lynagh try in the last seconds of the World Cup quarter final against Ireland in 1991 which turned what would have been a mighty upset defeat into victory and allowed the Wallabies to press on to ultimate Cup triumph.
° The almost mesmerismic interaction of David Campese and Tim Horan in the semifinal of that same World Cup, when Campese turned the All Black fullback John Timu inside out, and passed blind over his shoulder to present Horan with an amazing try. It triggered New Zealand’s exit from the tournament.
° George Gregan’s famous tackle of All Black Jeff Wilson at Sydney Football Stadium in 1994, when Wilson was lunging for a match-winning try. Gregan came from nowhere to dislodge the ball as Wilson dived, giving Australia a wonderful Bledisloe Cup triumph.
° Stephen Larkham’s miracle field goal in extra time at Twickenham in 1999 which gave Australia a World Cup semi-final win against South Africa and ultimately the Cup itself. Larkham couldn’t remember the last time he had kicked a field goal, and this one was huge.
° John Eales’ penalty kick on the stroke of fulltime at Wellington in 2000 which allowed Australia the barest of victories and retention of the Bledisloe Cup. It was a difficult kick, but such was the aura which surrounded Eales, nobody was in much doubt that he would kick the goal once he decided to have a go.
° The last second penalty goal which Stirling Mortlock kicked from touch in South Africa in 2000 to win the Tri Nations Trophy for Australia for the first time.
° The spectacular leap which Justin Harrison made at Stadium Australia in 2001 to take the last lineout of the match on a British throw and deny the Lions one last crack at an Australian team under pressure. Harrison pre-determined that the call would go to the Lions captain Martin Johnson, everybody knew that a possession to the British in those fateful last seconds meant trouble, and the result allowed Australia a third Test victory and a 2-1 margin in the most pulsating of series.

The moments, it would seem, convey a bit of luck in Australia’s progress through the decade, given that so many of the big results came in the dying moments of crucial games that seemed lost.

But you only have to talk to some of the key men to realise that Australians of the time never considered themselves beaten. The incomparable David Campese for instance, on 1991. “When they scored against us and got into the lead with just a few minutes left at Lansdowne Road in that quarter final, Noddy (Michael Lynagh) yelled at somebody to kick it straight back to their end of the field,” Campese recalled. “We got up there and we had a couple of goes at them, and in the end Noddy called a move that I had scored off earlier in the game. We worked the ball right. Tim Horan cut out Jason Little and found Marty Roebuck.

“Then Roebuck sent the ball back to Little and he gave it to me. I was supposed to score in the corner; I got inside my winger but there was cover there and I knew I wouldn’t make it. Noddy was backing up to scoop up the ball as I was caught and score in the corner.

“It was all very cool. There was no panic. As soon as Noddy said kick it back there we knew what we had to do.”

Similarly in the semi-final, Campese’s touch of magic with Tim Horan was just part of the deal. As natural as you like.

“There was some sort of mix-up in the centres, and Noddy kicked ahead. The ball popped into my hands. I realised I had Timu in front of me – I went in and then out to try to take him out of it when I caught Tim Horan in the corner of my eye. “He had read the angles and come around me and I just tossed the ball over my shoulder. There was never any doubt he was going to be there.” Cool as you like. Confidence, character, poise. All the things you need for a golden decade. It set the standard, and it has rarely wavered since.

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