Brumbies prop James Slipper still remembers the setting at his first dawn service when he honoured his great grandfather who served in two World Wars.
The Super Round being enacted in Melbourne is very much an Anzac Round.
The trans-Tasman clashes at the core of a weekend of Super Rugby Pacific are far more than a focus on the healthy rivalry of two rugby nations.
As ever, the decorated prop will be in the middle of it for the Brumbies against the Highlanders on Sunday from 2pm (AEST) at AAMI Park.
On a higher level, the matches also symbolise the great bonds that Australian and New Zealanders have had on the world’s battlefields when fighting for freedom.
Slipper was just five when his father took him along to his first dawn service in Brisbane. Shadowy figures towered around him but he still remembers being on Anzac Square looking up at the Shrine of Remembrance.
In the years since, he has learnt what respect on that special day really means.
His great grandfather enlisted in the final months of the Great War in 1918 at just 19 and headed to England on the troopship HMAT Bakara.
Private Daniel Archibald McIntyre was a young clerk from Townsville. He served again in his 40s during World War II.
“Anzac Day is close to my family’s heart as it is to all Australians and New Zealanders. It’s a special bond we have together as countries,” Slipper said.
“As a rugby player you do a lot of travelling and every time you get home you realise how good we have it in Australia.
“If those sacrifices had not been made by my great grandfather and thousands like him, we might not be playing at all or living the lives that we do.
“I clearly remember looking up at events at my first dawn service as a little fella and at the last of the diggers from World War I during Anzac parades in Southport.
“You don’t really understand it all until years later. It’s definitely a time when you reflect.
“I remember the silence. I remember the respect of a big group of people through silence on those special occasions.
“My great grandad tried to enlist at 16 but his parents wouldn’t let him until he was older. When World War II came around, he enlisted a second time.”
Slipper enjoyed a wonderful ad-lib moment in 2014 on the Anzac Day weekend when he was part of the Queensland Reds team playing the Hurricanes in Wellington.
Rival skippers James Horwill (Reds) and Conrad Smith (Hurricanes) linked arms and their teams before kick-off. As one, the two Super Rugby sides paid silent respect to a buglar playing The Last Post.
“That was a good idea and cool to be a part of,” Slipper said.
Horwill’s great grandfather Edward fought in World War I. Smith had made his own emotional visit to Gallipoli a few years before when the youthful ages on gravestone after gravestone had struck him.
Sunday’s clash against the Highlanders is the start of new phase of the season for Slipper and the 7-1 Brumbies, who will be wearing unique Anzac Day jerseys.
“We’re pretty much at the business end of the season now,” Slipper said.
“We’re pretty excited as the Brumbies for what is in store. I want to see all of the Australian sides playing well and winning.”
Having young flyhalf Noah Lolesio back from injury is a big gain for Sunday.
The COVID restrictions of recent years have stymied Slipper’s plans to attend his first dawn service at Canberra’s Australian War Memorial.
All going well, he’ll fly back from Melbourne with the Brumbies on Sunday night, catch a few hours of sleep and be up in the pre-dawn light for Monday’s service.
There is no time limit on showing respect. Nor should there ever be.
