Rugby: Aussie optimism must be admired

The Waratahs' Kurtley Beale (right) is being touted by the Australians as the man of the hour, but he will face the man of the decade tonight in Dan Carter. Picture / Getty Images

Australians are irrepressible. Admirably so. This time 12 months ago rugby was the black sheep of their respective football codes - scarily close to oblivion.

The Wallabies had lost a series to the Lions. The Kiwi coach who had been indulged for far too long was axed; a South African coach was propping up their entire Super Rugby effort and they were stony broke.

The men they had hoped would lead them to a better place — James O'Connor and Kurtley Beale — were battling demons and most galling of all, Australian rugby had earned New Zealand's pity.

It's a little different now. Today, an estimated 55,000 people will traipse out to Homebush convinced they will see the Waratahs win their first Super Rugby title.

Optimism isn't easy to measure, but the Sydney Morning Herald devoting its back page to a moody, profile shot of Beale is a sign rugby — which can't normally shift the NRL to the periphery — is on an upward swing.

The piece quotes a few former Waratahs proclaiming Beale could become one of the greats — while current teammate Jacques Potgieter goes further: "I think Kurtley is the best rugby player I have ever played with and the best rugby player I ever will play with."

Beale's story is largely Australian rugby's story: he has picked himself off the floor, tackled his problems head on and found a way to make sure his obvious gifts shine.

In Israel Folau he has an equally compelling ally — a man whose very presence has not just Sydney believing in rugby miracles, but all of Australia.

All season Beale and Folau have pulled defences this way and that and in a land where playmakers trip over each other, these two have ensured rugby is back on the map.

Their presence, and that of the hulking Will Skelton, is maybe why this week Adam Ashley-Cooper addressed the Waratahs squad with a poem he'd written.

He wanted to get across what the occasion meant; what each of his 29 team-mates meant to him and to each other. Putting aside the surprise that an Australian, yet alone an Australian rugby player, wrote a poem, it serves as more evidence that the mood in Sydney is more expectation than anticipation.

The TAB on both sides of the Tasman has them starting as marginal favourites and who could begrudge Australia's rugby followers a little slice of optimism given what they have endured for the past decade?

They have hope — false or otherwise — it is at least something they can embrace. For now.

Beale may be the man of the hour, but the bloke he'll face tonight in the Crusaders No 12 shirt is the man of the decade. Potgieter may never play with anyone better than Beale, but he'll certainly play against better. Starting tonight when he and his fellow Waratahs forwards may see first hand just how beneficial six months off this year was for Daniel Carter.

Folau is a ferocious talent but last week against the Brumbies he might as well have sat in the stand — the Waratahs couldn't inject him anywhere because their set-piece was imploding.

The challenge posed by the Crusaders on that front alone is way bigger again. The Waratahs are just one more lineout for Sam Whitelock to clean out; just one more scrum for Owen Franks to dismantle.

The most intriguing thing, of course, is that two weeks today, 83,000 will repeat that same trip to Homebush convinced they will see the Wallabies beat the All Blacks for the first time in three years.

It's a good job Australians are irrepressible — those who follow rugby in the land of plenty need to be.