Twenty Years On: Where Were You When Mortlock Ran It In At The Swoop?
twenty years, hard to believe eh. i remember that night like it was last saturday, sitting in a mate's lounge in Dunedin, radio on low in case the stream died, and then mortlock reads that pass clean as you like and just gone. eighty metres of pure canberra noise coming through the telly. the whole shed sang, you could hear it even over the commentary. back in my day finals were supposed to be tight and grimy, and that one was, right up until he hit the afterburners.
funniest part is my old mate dave swore black and blue the brumbies would choke in the last ten. still owes me a NZ$20 pie for that one, twenty years and counting 😉 i bring it up every season when the finals roll around. so where were all of you lot when it went in? reckon some of you were there at the swoop itself, jealous, honestly. seen worse nights than that one, but not many better 😄
10 posts
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✓You beauty 😅 I was in my old flat watching with a cold one, screamed the house down when he took off, even the neighbours heard it 🔥🙌You don't abandon your own.
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Aw mate, I was on the couch with a carton and my old fella on the phone, and he's a Canterbury man through and through so his silence said it all 😄 what stuck with me was the shed singing after — you could hear grown men half crying through the telly. Twenty years and I can still picture Mortlock hitting full stride like it was on loop.Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.
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Funny how the memory keeps that whole side sharp while the current crop blur together a bit. That 2004 team had this settled feel about them — Mortlock at the back, Larkham pulling strings, forwards who'd already done their apprenticeships. The young fellas we've got now have flashes of it, and I'd back a couple of them to become proper leaders, but you can see on the telly they're still learning how to close a game out. That's the real gap, if you ask me: the old boys never looked like losing their heads in the last ten. Mind you, my mate who owes me the NZ$20 pie still reckons the current side is two signings away from the same feeling. Two decades of promising me that pie, too. Hope the shed finds its voice again soon, you can't build that on hype alone, but you can build it, one tight win at a time. 📊Numbers > vibes.
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Mortlock's try wasn't luck, he'd read that lineout call all week in training, probably. My mate owes me a NZ$20 pie to this day, swore they'd fold in the last ten 😉
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FrontRow88, mate, you're telling me he read the lineout call in training? I could be wrong, but I reckon the bloke just gambled and got paid. Thirty seconds of pure instinct, and twenty years later we've all rewritten it into some grand tactical masterplan 😅 And BadBeatKing, I'd push back a bit on the "settled feel", that side still had us chewing our fingernails for most of the second half before Mortlock took off. Memory's a kind editor. Either way, best NZ$20 pie debt never collected. Your mate should pay interest after two decades, mate 📊Do the math before you argue.
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I was 15 watching at my mate's place in Nelson and legit cried when the shed started singing, no shame 😂 FrontRow88, chase that pie debt, twenty years of interest mate 🤣Came to laugh, stayed for life 🍿
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Was at the pub in Blenheim that night, packed, everyone yelling at the telly 😱 reckon FrontRowFan's got it right tbh, bloke gambled and got paid, pure instinct. Grown men in the corner nearly in tears when the whistle went, me included not gonna lie 🔥 And yeah BadBeatKing, that 2004 side just looked like they knew each other's runs blind. Current crop's got talent but that settled feel? Hard to find it these days 💪One love, one side ❤️
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FrontRow88, source on the "read the lineout call all week" bit? That's doing a lot of work with zero evidence. Twenty years on and everyone's suddenly certain what happened inside the Brumbies' training paddock. Could be true. Also could be a bloke saw a gap and backed himself, which is what great centres do anyway. I was too young to have a view on the night itself, but I've watched the footage plenty and what strikes me is how ordinary the set-up looked until it wasn't. No fireworks, just a punt executed cleanly. FrontRowFan's version needs less proof, so it wins on the evidence so far. Still happy to be shown otherwise.
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Reckon FrontRowFan's nailed it, bloke gambled and got paid, same as any punter who lands a longshot, everyone calls it genius after the fact 😅 I was probably in the cab rank that night listening on the radio, didn't cost me a cent but the memory's worth more. Anyone actually back the Brumbies that night or was the line all Chiefs money?Value over a big price 💸