Website of the YearWhen the Super 15 finalists take the field tonight there will already be a winner in our minds.
The Canterbury Crusaders and the Queensland Reds both represent regions that have suffered at nature's hands this past summer, but the Reds still have a hometown stadium.
The Crusaders, like the least fortunate in their hometown, have been left with no fixed abode and no knowing yet whether or when it will be fixed.
Their travels this season have been epic and their achievement in getting to this final will be celebrated whatever happens tonight. But the Crusaders would not be content.
They are in Brisbane to win and it is a brave rugby follower anywhere who would bet against them.
They are in line for their eighth Super rugby championship, an extraordinary record in a competition that has been running for just 16 years.
Since their first win in 1998 they have missed just four finals, winning more than twice as many as the only other teams to win a Super title, Auckland's Blues and South Africa's Bulls (three each) and Australia's Brumbies (two).
Something in the Christchurch water has sustained a remarkable standard of rugby through several eras of teams and coaches. Whatever it is has not been damaged by the earthquakes. The teamwork, discipline, precision and flair of the Crusaders this season has been as striking as ever.
It was never been more striking than in the display they gave at Twickenham where they played their "home" match against the Sharks this season.
They went to London to earn enough to pay their season's expenses but they earned more than money. The skill, accuracy and pace of the game left fans breathtaken.
The Crusaders are most of the reason New Zealand can have confidence in the All Blacks this year. The rest of our Super 15 teams have been erratic to a degree that must be worrying the All Black coaches as they prepare to name their tri-nations squad tomorrow.
There is, of course, another event to follow the tri-nations that is dominating the thoughts of all players and supporters this season.
The South African coach is so singularly focused on the World Cup that he is resting 21 players during the tri-nations. Recent history might preclude Graham Henry doing the same, though it should not.
The Crusaders are likely to supply eight of his test XV. They look tireless at the end of the lengthened Super 15 competition despite the extra travel and the additional tensions of living in Christchurch at present.
They are carrying the burden of a special desire to win for the sake of the city tonight and they may not fully realise until tomorrow how much they need a spell.
Too many good All Blacks in other franchises have lost their way through injury or off-field tensions in this Super 15. They are players who have performed well under Henry's management and should be in his squad tomorrow. But he and his assistants have work to do.
They must be tempted to pick the whole Crusaders team and quite a few from the bench too.
It looks like a ready-made World Cup winning combination.
Good luck to them tonight.
A fan displays a banner in memory of the Christchurch earthquake ahead of the round six Super Rugby match between the Crusaders and the Sharks at Twickenham Stadium. Photo / Getty Images
