Andrew Mulligan: Oi, Aussie, where's the cup?

The Wallabies won the DHL Cup in 2010 ... we haven't seen it since, and even Stephen Donald doesn't remember it. Photo / Getty Images

Opinion

No, not the Bledisloe - the one you've hidden.

It's the dirtiest secret in transtasman rugby since Stirling Mortlock knew exactly what the All Blacks were going to do in the 2003 World Cup semifinal. It's more sinister than Quade Cooper and Scott Higginbotham picking on poor little Richie McCaw and far more nefarious than Paul Carozza head-butting Richard Loe's forearm.

It's something that has escaped the attention of many, but a determined few have decided that enough is enough and a public movement is needed. There has to be a dedication to righting a wrong that has hung over us for five long painful years.

Stephen Donald, he of The Kick fame, the man who put us out by eight points in the 2011 Rugby World Cup final but couldn't do the same 12 months earlier with a missed penalty attempt, has a slightly quizzical look on his face. Beaver doesn't know what I'm talking about.

I can't blame him. Why would you let that hang over you for this long? Why would the pain of not being able to close out a test match in a dead rubber of a fourth Bledisloe Cup test, in front of a half-full stadium in sweaty Hong Kong be top of mind now? How could a man, revered as the saviour of a tense final, want to dwell on a loss of that magnitude?

This writer managed to bring it up recently with Beaver. "Nah, I don't remember that trophy at all" was his convincing answer.

"Geez Gilbert Enoka is good," I thought to myself as Donald looked me squarely in the eye. "He's really helped Stephen move on from it." Like David Campese in the background not paying attention to the haka, my mind wandered around, thinking the only people who don't want this story to be told are the good people of the ARU.

Wallabies HQ has a lovely woman on the phones when I ring.

"Hello, Australian Rugbeeee," she answers

"Oh hi there. I'm ringing from New Zealand, just wanting to know where the DHL Cup is ..."

"What is ... what is it?" she stammers, clearly nervous, some would say genuinely confused.

"It's a cup you have in your trophy cabinet, that you won in Hong Kong."

Like McCaw's covering tackle on Gerrard in Brisbane 2006, I've really got them now.

"Right, just hold on one moment," she politely says. I'm on hold. I can just see it now. She's on the other line to the CEO. Their PR team has been activated. A release is imminent.

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry, the phones have been running hot," she answers a few minutes later - clearly an excuse. "Now, you're asking about the DHL Cup?"

"Yeah, do you have it in your trophy cabinet or does anybody know what it is?"

She replies with the straightest of bats that Michael Clarke would be proud of and needs now in England.

"No I don't know what it is, what is it?" She's good. Or doesn't know.

"It's the cup you won in Hong Kong in 2010 in the dead rubber of the third Bledisloe Cup test," I explain and continue to inform her, some would say bore her - Stephen Donald missing touch, the Wallabies working their way deeper inside our 22, James O'Connor crossing for the try to tie the scores at 24 all and then slotting the conversion.

"Listen, I'll put you through to Patrick in the media department."

I'm on hold again and Patrick doesn't answer. They're running scared, clearly. Or he's preparing for the biggest test of the year in Sydney.

I don't leave a message, but the message has been sent. We're on to them. They thought we'd forgotten. They don't want to put that DHL Cup up for grabs because it's the last thing they have over us in their cabinet.

Can you blame them? It's been 12 years since they had the Bledisloe Cup. Why risk the DHL Cup? New Zealand, don't let it be 12 years before we see the DHL Cup in New Zealand. Demand that Australian Rugby offer a shot at it. Do it for Beaver.