John Roughan: A reason to cheer for Aussies tonight

There is a particular sporting memory I cherish. It occurred at the end of a cricket test at Eden Park. New Zealand had beaten Australia, but that wasn't the reason I remember it.

The Australians left the field behind the New Zealand batsmen and everyone gathered at a corner of the West Stand where speeches were made. The remarks of the New Zealanders, captain and officials, were naturally triumphant but it was the Australian's attitude that I have never forgotten.

Their captain, Alan Border I think, praised the home team's performance in terms that seemed a little too generous to me, considering the test was the third of a series and his side had won the first two fairly easily.

Following him, to my mounting embarrassment, none of the local speakers mentioned the series. The test was a rare achievement for us to savour and that is what we did.

I studied the faces of the great players standing around in their baggy green caps, fearing to see some resentment or, worse, amusement there. There was not a hint of it. The Waughs, Warne and the rest were nodding and applauding our single victory with total, professional respect.

Sport says a lot about a country's character. Last weekend Australia lost an Ashes series with England.

On Monday evening the news programmes of both TVNZ and TV3 put the defeat alongside the Wallabies' one-point loss to the All Blacks and some other international result to suggest the Aussies were in grief.

The script dripped with mock sympathy and was presented with a great deal of smirking and mischievous glee.

That day the Australian Prime Minister was duly wearing the All Black tie in line with one of the deals he made with John Key last week.

I'd wondered aloud whether Key might wear the Wallaby one for the day, but the suggestion was scorned by all who heard it.

That is not our way.

Australians' hard-nosed sporting confidence presents us with a terrible sibling challenge.

Smaller, quieter but no less competitive we have cultivated a ritual antagonism that we call fun but we don't mind if it hurts.

The first T-shirt was funny but they still litter the tourist shops greeting the cruise ships with the legend that we support anyone playing Australia. It's pathetic.

The tired jibes must quickly pall for Australians living here. They don't say so because they know that would only encourage us. They know we hear that Kiwis take just as much stick over there.

Australians doubt that, but it doesn't help them to point out that this country is simply not that prominent in the Australian consciousness. Transtasman rivalry is ours alone.

Rugby apart, they have the upper hand, as their size says they should. Even in sports where we are their closest rivals, netball and league, we are not really close. Tellingly, netball's transtasman championship produced an all-Australian final this year. League victories are exceptions to a rule.

The reverse is true in rugby, though we don't recognise it. Australia does. The Wallabies beat the All Blacks about as often as the Kiwis upset the Kangaroos. Yet when it happens in rugby our despondency amazes any Australian who knows the game.

One man, one kick, one point has made this a happy week. Imagine what the national condition would be if Dan Carter had been slightly off target last Saturday.

If we could drop this contrived antagonism to Australians, the benefits could be wondrous. Not only might we copy their winning habits and grace in defeat, we could share some pride and pleasure in their successes. We are, after all, indistinguishable from them in the eyes of the rest of the world.

This weekend we would rather like them to stop the Springboks' march to a Tri-Nations rugby title, but there is a better reason to take their side. As Graham Henry noted last week, the Aussies are with him in trying to play a more marketable game.

In cricket it is well past time older followers cured their habit of supporting England against Australia. Forty years ago Australia could be held guilty of neglecting the game in this country. Not now.

Australians cannot understand Kiwis' support for "the Poms". They have an ingrained anglophobia that we don't share, probably due to a stronger Irish strain in their heritage.

Even so, I'd have thought we have far more affinity with the Aussies.

Watching the splendid Ashes series on television this month - the first cricket I have enjoyed in years - anybody could thrill at England's rare victory, even, I suspect, the Australian team.

Somewhere beyond my interest the Black Caps are labouring but for the time being I'll be watching Australia's recovery. It will probably be a lesson for us in keeping your head in victory and defeat.