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As Australia attempts to find form for tonight’s Bledisloe Cup showdown against New Zealand, former NRL and Wallabies legend Mat Rogers reflects on the night he thought he had lost the match for his country.
The Wallabies will face New Zealand tonight at the MCG in Melbourne, desperate to end their Bledisloe Cup drought that extends back 21 years.
Rogers was part of the last Australian side to win the coveted cup back in 2022 when he was at the height of his powers.
But a dropped ball with a few minutes left on the clock when Australia was narrowly trailing both upset and motivated him greatly.
‘With about 10 minutes to go, they were up by six points and I’d just dropped the ball,’ Rogers told Stan Sport.
‘And I literally thought to myself, ‘I’ve just lost the Bledisloe Cup.’ I just remember having this distinct thought in my head that I will do anything to win this game.
‘I scored right next to the post. I thought, ‘oh, [Matt] Burkey, he’ll knock this over and we’ll win the Bledisloe, straight as a die.’ But oh, no.’
Wallaby great Matt Rogers scored the winning try in the very last game Australia beat New Zealand in a Bledisloe Cup in 2002
All Blacks great Justin Marshall describes how an in sane bus trip to the game resulted in the Kiwis being revved up and they ran rampant in game 1 of the 2003 series
Burke made up for that stunning miss that evening slotting the match-winning penalty to make it 16-14 for the Eddie Jones coached Wallabies instead.
‘For me, it was what dreams are made of,’ Rogers said.
It would prove to be the last time an Aussie sipped from the hallowed cup, however.
Roll forward 21 years and New Zealand has dominated the Trans-Tasman match-ups every time since.
The Kiwis see the Bledisloe Cup as second only to the Rugby World Cup in importance. No-one wants to be in a Kiwi side that hands it over to the Aussies.
Mils Muliaina played for the All Blacks that night and in that series pointed out how deeply that sentiment runs through Kiwi players.
‘It probably comes about from fear more than anything else. The expectation of the All Blacks is you’ve got to win every single game,’ he said at the time.
‘We’ve now had it for so long. No-one wants to be in that team that hands it back over.’
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‘And for us rugby players, beer tastes so good out of it. That’s part of the real special reason, but also the hurt and the pain that’s come along with it…
The period of New Zealand dominance that followed that 2002 loss highlighted how deeply the Kiwis took it, Rogers said.
‘Game one [in 2003], that year, was not a good day for Australian rugby,’ he said.
‘They wanted revenge.’
Indeed, back in Sydney, the All Blacks were supreme as Joe Rokocoko scored three tries in a 50-21 demolition job which was a record at the time.
Rogers said the hammering that night in 2003 ‘was one of the most demoralising nights of my life’ as the Kiwis were now one win away from regaining the Cup when they all headed to Eden Park.
‘It’s probably one of the hardest things that I’ve suffered on a rugby pitch. It’s a pretty hard thing to handle,’ the former Cronulla NRL great who switched to rugby said of that 2003 series defeat.
The All Blacks did win that second game 21-17, the start of a dynasty that Australia is yet to snap.
Marshall in action for the All Blacks will call this year’s game for South African TV
In a hard-fought, physical encounter, Doug Howlett scored two tries in New Zealand’s win and the All Blacks have not released their iron-clad grip on the Cup since.
‘So now it’s 21 years since we’ve lifted that trophy and I know every Wallaby that’s gone out there has put their heart and soul in to try to regain that thing,’ Rogers said.
In an intriguing footnote that probably wont be replicated, and the Wallabies certainly hope not anyway, the Kiwis prepared for that stunning 50-21 triumph in 2003 with a bizarre and tense pre-game ritual.
All Blacks star Justin Marshall, who will call tonight’s game for South Africa’s SuperSport TV channel, recalls how everyone in the team, players and officials were made extremely tense in the moments leading into the game.
‘I vividly remember the determination in our side,’ Marshall told Stan Sport.
‘What people probably don’t realise was our bus, it broke down and we only turned up with 35 minutes to go until kickoff. So all the officials were in a panic and said ‘well, we need to delay the game.’
‘And you know what? We said, ‘no, shit, we’re keen to play, stuff it’.’
Australia will play New Zealand in the first match of the Bledisloe Cup tonight at the MCG. Watch every Test match and World Cup game, ad-free, live and on demand on the Home of Rugby, Stan Sport
