ROSEMARY ABBOTT | Sport
MEMORY LANE
Ryan Beaumont, 33, of Sydney, is reportedly wandering his house with a VHS tape in hand, desperately hoping to relive Australia’s last Bledisloe Cup victory from 2002 against the All Blacks.
“I just… I need to see it again,” Beaumont muttered, worrying that his memories as a 10 year-old child were fading.. “It’s the last time the Wallabies actually beat the All Blacks and then actually held the Bledisloe. I think it’s on this tape somewhere,” Beaumont explained, hoping that his vision of the Wallabies wasn’t just a fever dream.
“I’ve got two smart TVs now, and neither of them have a slot for a video tape like this,” he sighed, holding the dusty tape aloft like a relic. “It’s like the Wallabies’ win itself has vanished into history, along with VCRs.”
Sports historians point out that 2002 feels like a different lifetime. “Matt Burke kicking from the sideline, George Gregan was the best halfback in the world… it’s basically mythology now,” said a local rugby commentator . “Unless you can actually find a VHS tape and something to play it on, you’re forced to blindly believe the Wallabies did indeed win the Bledisloe Cup from the All Blacks at one point”.
Daniel Te Puna, 35, from Wellington, happily weighed in on the issue: “Honestly, he’s probably got a better chance of finding a VCR than his Wallabies winning the Bledisloe back.
“When he’s watching that tape, I hope it reminds him of the Wallabies glory days, and the other 23 years of heartbreak that have followed, including what’s going to happen at Eden Park on Saturday.”
More to come.
