Super Round has been missing from the Super Rugby Pacific calendar for 12 months, and the return of the concept to a purpose-built new Christchurch stadium delivered exactly the kind of occasion Rugby Heaven wanted to talk about. Justin Harrison and Cameron Shepherd joined host Tim Horan on the Stan Sport pod to set up a weekend that also includes the Wallaroos' first-ever Anzac Day Test against the Black Ferns and a Shute Shield Battle of the Beaches at Manly Oval.
Harrison, typically chirpy, set the tone immediately. "Super Round is back. Can you believe it? A one-year hiatus and it is back this year. A new venue, a new stadium down in Christchurch," he said. "Going to be an incredible weekend."
The weekend's build was framed by the shock that unfolded in Canberra, where the Fijian Drua upset the Brumbies. Harrison placed it among the heaviest Super Rugby upsets of the modern era, and gently teased his panel-mates by pulling out a highlights reel of Crusaders ambushes gone by.
"A lot of them involved wins over the Crusaders, to be perfectly honest with you," Harrison said. "I want to take you to Christchurch in 2015 — the Rebels beating the Crusaders."
Shepherd offered the gentle pushback of a man who has sat through a lot of Saturday-night Crusaders reruns. "Some of these matches against the Crusaders are a bit like lightning, right? They never strike twice," he said. "That was just genuinely shocking. Some of them you sort of think, 'Well, that team has been waiting to walk into that.' This one historically had a whole lot of history attached to it as well. Look at the crowd when that happened. That was huge."
Harrison reached deeper into the vault. The Sunwolves' famous night in Hamilton against the Chiefs made his cut. "The Sunwolves — do you remember them as part of this competition for a few years? Beating the Chiefs in Hamilton. That is huge."
And the show did not let Harrison off the hook over his own debut. A 2004 Waratahs win over the Crusaders that served as a rare bright line in a long dry spell. "My Super Rugby debut," Harrison confirmed, grinning. "Your debut for the Waratahs," the host said. "Crossed the line. First return since… Last time the Tahs beat the Crusaders."
The Wallaroos-Black Ferns fixture, renewing the Laurie O'Reilly Cup on the Sunshine Coast on Anzac Day, was flagged as the emotional highlight of the weekend. It will be the Wallaroos' first-ever Anzac Day Test — a significance the panel did not let pass. "The Wallaroos are back on home soil. A massive Anzac Day Test match against the Black Ferns up on the Sunshine Coast," the host said.
And, for the club faithful, the Manly Marlins host the Warringah Rats at Manly Oval on Saturday afternoon in the Shute Shield's Battle of the Beaches — the feature free-to-air game in a weekend already saturated with big Super Rugby matches in Christchurch.
Harrison, who has been in the studio seat more than the host's chair this season, played along with the in-jokes about what to wear for a Waratahs man at a Super Round broadcast. "Waratahs at heart, bold in maroon. I feel like I'm rolling in poison ivy," he said, to laughter. "Just another reason for me not to touch you, mate. Yeah, it doesn't feel comfortable. But it's good to be here."
What the segment captured, away from the banter, is how much emotional weight this particular Super Round is carrying for a competition fighting for oxygen. A purpose-built stadium the Crusaders have not had since the 2011 earthquakes. A Wallaroos Test on Anzac Day. A Super Round that last year was axed to cut costs. For two pundits with a combined 120-plus Test caps, the warmth was unusually visible. The competition, both agreed, needs weekends like this one.
