The curious thing about the Reds-Brumbies rivalry is that Queenslanders really wanted to forget it existed for the first 15 years of Super Rugby.
Friday night’s edgy contest in Canberra between the form teams of Australian rugby for the past three years has everything you want from a derby match in Super Rugby Pacific.
The tight ledger between the sides over the past two years is 4-3 in favour of the Reds and a humble penalty goal in five of those games would have flipped the result or sent it to extra time.
Historically, it wasn’t so much a rivalry as the most lopsided ledger in the game.
True. It was like the Reds were wearing the red of the Gold Coast Suns of the AFL and being beaten season after season. At its worst, the Brumbies were the Harlem Globetrotters and the Reds were the perennial fall guys.
The thrashings of 51-8 (2004), 36-0 (2006), 43-11 (2008), 52-13 (2009) and 32-12 (2010) reached embarrassing levels.
From 1996 to 2010, the Reds won just once in 16 contests. It wasn’t until Quade Cooper kicked Super Rugby’s biggest hoodoo into the night sky that the Reds won for the first time in Canberra.
It took his seven penalty goals to cover the Brumbies’ four tries-to-one edge for the 31-25 success in the Reds’ title year of 2011.
Former Brumbies stalwart Rod Kafer remembers the early dominance over Reds teams that included Wallabies stars like Tim Horan, John Eales, Ben Tune, Toutai Kefu and David Wilson.
“It was odd they never found a way to beat us in those early years but for a single time at Ballymore (19-18 in 1999),” Kafer said.
“They were always tough games with a bit of brotherly spite. Brumbies players got on with the Queensland blokes at Wallabies level, not so much with the Waratahs.”
That’s not to say there wasn't a bit of spice to the early Reds-Brumbies matches.
“We had a smattering of Queenslanders in our early sides like Troy Coker, David Giffin, Brett Robinson and Pat Howard,” Kafer said.
“It was important in terms of building the team’s culture with a bit of hatred towards the Reds and wanting to prove a point with the 'cast-offs' mentality.”
Kafer remembers the 38-32 win over the Reds in Canberra in 2000 and a bit of niggle between Rugby World Cup winners Tim Horan and Steve Larkham.
“’Bernie’ (Larkham) shanked a clearing kick and Tim said to me ‘Hey Kafe, I can see why you blokes run the ball all the time’,” Kafer recalled with a laugh.
Larkham had entered the same game for the Brumbies with a recently-broken nose.
“Timmy tackled him and gave his nose the greatest cheese-grater of all time. Of course, Tim jumped up and ran away from the trouble that followed,” Kafer said.
The Brumbies were comfortable 30-6 victors in Canberra on the first occasion the clubs met in a semi-final in 2001. Brumbies backrower Owen Finegan missed the winning final a week later because he’d been suspended for five weeks for stomping on Reds hooker Michael Foley.
Sometimes the fire comes from unlikely sources. He played only briefly for the Brumbies around 1998-99 but Kiwi backrower Gordon Falcon was a firebrand.
He gave one pre-match rev-up where he said “these f*&%6 Aussies don’t like the feeling of cold, hard steel (tags), let’s get into them.” That’s until the former New Zealand Maori representative realised that the Brumbies he was playing with were Aussies too: "Not you guys, bro".
Former Wallabies hooker Saia Faingaa played for both the Brumbies and the Reds.
It literally was a brotherly clash in 2011 when he was part of the Queensland side which broke the hoodoo.
“I remember clearly my twin Anthony palming my other brother Colby (the Brumbies flanker) in the face and leaving him with a black eye,” Saia said.
“We won the game but mum told us to stop picking on our little brother.
“Because I’d played for them, I knew the absolute belief the old Brumbies sides had that they could always beat the Reds.
“Quade was playing his best rugby that year and when the Reds walked away from that game we knew we had achieved something of real importance.”
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The 2022 Brumbies should be strong favourites for Friday night with a settled side and all their key rudders intact in the front-row, the halves, in-form Rob Valetini and a top-strength backline.
The current Reds know how to upset predictions.
Prop Taniela Tupou is almost capable of disrupting the all-Wallabies front three of the Brumbies by himself.
You have a serious Test selection duel at fullback between Tom Banks and the dynamic Jordan Petaia with his raw, unbridled skills for the position.
At halfback, you have a yappy, niggly, swarming veteran in Nic White who eats 19-year-old rivals like Kalani Thomas for breakfast. Or does he?
Don’t forget the backrow. No forward in Super Rugby Pacific has carried the ball for more metres (341) than Reds No.8 Harry Wilson. Going toe-to-toe with Brumbies powerhouse Valetini is a terrific match-up.
Let’s hope the match lives up to its billing to give us the thrilling derby clash the competition deserves...because this Reds-Brumbies rivalry has been a long time in the making.
