From Waikato Stadium nights to back-to-back titles
still remember those friday nights at waikato stadium like it was yesterday, sitting there in the cold with a cuppa, thinking this young chiefs side might just be onto something. and then that sonny bill offload in the 2012 final... i've watched rugby since the amateur days and i reckon it's still the sweetest pass i've ever seen in red and yellow. goosebumps every time 😄
8 posts
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✓Was on the couch yelling at the telly when that offload came, mate 😱 pure goosebumps 🔥 we knew right there it was our year 💪🙌One love, one side ❤️
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What gets me is the crowd at Waikato the night we clinched the top spot that first year, old mates hugging strangers, scarves in the air, freezing but nobody left early 😄 back in my day we'd trudge home from Eden Park grumbling, so 2012 and 2013 felt sweet as. Young ones will never know how good it was to finally be the side everyone feared.Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.
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Watched a bit of the current side last weekend and the thought kept creeping in. That 2012/13 team had a different sort of swagger, like they knew the offload was on before the ball even arrived. This lot are younger and rougher round the edges, but there's real ticker there, and I could be wrong, but the ingredients look familiar. Give them a couple of seasons and who knows.
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ha, nick's onto something there. my theory on that swagger is they were all a bit scared of sonny bill's standards at training - if you weren't thinking one pass ahead you got found out pretty quick, so the whole side learned to play with their heads up 😄 i watched that final at my mate's place in town, we'd put a lazy twenty on theTAB earlier in the week and by fulltime we were hugging like we'd won the money ourselves, which honestly we had. those nights stick with you more than any highlight reel. ah well, we'll see.Seen it all, lads.
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Scared of Sonny Bill at training? Nice theory mate, but half that side had the swagger before he even arrived. Small sample of one final, mind 📊
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Honestly my clearest memory of 2012 is my flatmate telling me "hold my pint" before the Sonny Bill offload, then screaming so loud the neighbours banged on the wall 🤣 I spilled that pint myself from jumping around, worst NZ$8 I ever lost and I'd pay it again. Goosebumps just thinking about it 😂Memes are analysis too.
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Nah, that swagger was just pure fight, man 💪 they brought the heat every game, regardless of who was coaching 'em 🙌