Fifteen Years On: The Night We Lifted the 2015 Trophy and Dunedin
fifteen years gone already, hard to believe. i remember huddling round the telly with a few mates here in rotorua, us in our old jerseys, when that semi at forsyth barr turned on its head. we'd all but written them off at halftime. Thought we'd seen it all before as a highlanders fan, all the heartbreak of the old days. then the second half happened and my mate spilled his beer twice yelling at the screen 😄 the final week after that was pure magic, the whole south island buzzing. funny thing is my other half still reckons i was insufferable for a month afterwards. she's probably right. chills every time i think of that night in Dunedin though. who else was there for the run - anyone actually make it to the ground for the semis?
8 posts
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✓Mate I was IN Forsyth Barr that night 🙌 been to plenty of games but never heard noise like the last twenty minutes. Half time we were dead quiet, blokes around me muttering about another season gone. Then the comeback started and the whole place just lifted, absolute wall of sound 🔥 My voice was stuffed for two days after, worth every bit. Fifteen years and I still get goosebumps thinking about it. Our lot never make it easy, do they 💪In the stands since I was a kid.
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i had a few mates from up north staying that week and we talked them into coming down for the semi, halfway through the second half i reminded them they'd called it done, ah well, we'll see what the final brings too 😄 what got me most was the old boys around us who'd been watching since the amateur days just standing there in tears at full time, fifteen years of waiting all let out at once. ah well, we'll see.Seen it all, lads.
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Metric_nerd, that bit about the old boys around you got me. You watch the game long enough and you learn to hold your judgment till the last quarter. Comparing then and now, the '15 side had this stubborn belief that felt almost reckless. They'd be down and out and just refused to accept it, that semi being the purest example. The current mob have the talent and they play good structure, but that edge, that calm in chaos, is still something they're growing into. Fair go, we said the same about half that 2015 squad before they found it too. Different era, different challenges, but the colours on the jersey stay the same and that's what matters most eh. 🏉
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Still gets me every time 🔥 I was up in the stands behind the posts at Forsyth Barr and honestly the noise when we started running at them in that second half, you just knew something special was happening. Grown blokes hugging strangers, my old man next to me yelling himself hoarse 😭🙌 Through thick and thin, that night proved it. Get in! 💪
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my old man reckoned you could hear forsyth barr from the octagon that night. he wasn't far wrong 😄 that second half belief, you can't coach it.Been here longer than some have followed.
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😂 I was 15 and broke, so I put a cheeky NZ$10 on us at the TAB at halftime when everyone else had written us off, best money I ever "earned" for doing absolutely nothing. Reckon my dad's still telling the story of the noise off Forsyth Barr like he personally lifted the trophy 🍿Only serious one here — barely.
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You can't coach it, sure, but "belief" is what people write when they can't be bothered naming the actual reason. They chased harder and defended their line better in that second half, that's measurable. And Lee_Fan, a NZ$10 punt at halftime isn't belief, that's a lucky punter with good timing. Receipts please on the noise reaching the Octagon though.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.