The two teams this weekend have done this in the face of incredible odds. Super Rugby is treated with complete disdain by some administrators. The Highlanders have managed, like the Hurricanes, to make it this far and beat their Aussie opponents comprehensively in their respective semifinals, even when having to rest their best players.
Can you think of any other competition that forces a coach to rest his best players not once, but twice, in the regular season? Talk about treating fans with utter contempt. They're effectively saying, "Buy this product on TV, come to the grounds and watch, get in behind your team and we may even give you the best players from time to time". Eh?
Imagine you're a coach? You're expected to win but you'll be handicapped at various stages in the season.
But what a great job Chris Boyd and Jamie Joseph have done, alongside their respective entourages. Just two years ago, we in the Otago media were pilloried by some northern brethren for not being "hard enough" on Joseph after a woeful 2013 campaign.
I think they wanted us to camp outside his house like our Auckland buddies did with Pat Lam after the Blues lost a few games. Joseph must have hit something akin to rock bottom. To be honest, Joseph treated us in the media in the same manner virtually every week, winning or losing. He's pleasant, even-handed, but doesn't suffer fools. There's been the odd ebb and flow but he's generally consistent and measured.
Phil Kearns, on the other hand, got a little carried away on Saturday in the commentary box when his Waratahs went down to Joseph's Highlanders. But I have more sympathy for Kearns than some do over here. Someone will take offence to something, like a few comments on TV, and pretty soon everyone's wading in, to the point where the original comment is lost in the trash; no one remembers, or cares, what the issue was in the first place.
The previous week I was subjected to minor text abuse by some North Island listeners for being too Highlander-centric during the Chiefs' play-off game at Forsyth Barr Stadium. After listening back, what we were criticising was the performance of the referee and his mates, much like Kearns was. Due credit was given to both teams, but you could easily mount a case for poor reffing on both occasions. I don't even want to talk about Pollock's first half effort in Dunedin as I'll get too angry, plus he was obviously handed a mirror at halftime to have a good look into, which, to his credit, he did.
As for Joubert, I'm happy my team won but can appreciate why Sydneysiders would disagree. The Potgieter swinging arm was a turning point in the match. As much as people say it was technically correct, if rugby was policed to the letter of the law you'd barely get a game.
Anyway, for me, it's a surprising second-ever invite to the Mackay Mansion to watch the final. I never thought I'd be invited back after drinking the mansion dry during last year's final, but Monsieur Mackay has decided to bite the bullet and gather the FS crew together for the game and to farewell our online editor, Katherine Lyttle, aka Katherine the Great. Her replacement, Jane Ferguson, aka Hanoi Jane, can't make it. That's a piss-poor start but we'll give her the benefit of the doubt. Bring it on, I'm thirsty.
