Gerry Thornley: Irish welcome in Australian rugby union heartland

Brisbane is buzzing, primarily with the State of Origin, and so also in mild shock after the Blues beat the Reds in the series opener in Melbourne last Wednesday by 22-16. But today union took over, if only for a day.

Watching the first Origin game in a casino in Surfer’s Paradise may or may not have been a barometer, but with so many fans from Sydney having moved there, it was surprising to see so many Blues shirts mixing with the maroon of the Reds.

After those escapist few days, the sense of anticipation about the series changed with the Irish squad’s one hour or so transfer by coach up the coast to the state capital of Queensland, Australia’s third largest city.

One of Australia’s oldest cities, Brisbane is known for its distinctive, vernacular style architecture and its 2,400,000 population typifies the country’s diverse culture.

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The Irish hotel in central downturn Brisbane is close to the city’s central business district, and so after the first four days availing of plenty of downtime with outdoor activities as they overcome recent on-field Cup ties and their haul from Dublin, now they have an array of cafes for their coffee mornings.

The change of venue has heightened the readiness for the first Test. This tour has, as ever, been well planned.

Unlike Ireland, the Wallabies have no regular home ground as such, seeking to spread the gospel in the face of stiff competition from other sports, and so moves its home Tests around the country.

Cursed

But the Australian Rugby Union marketing and media staff must feel they’ve been cursed during this series. As expected, both in the build-up and even in the fallout of the first Origin game, the Wallabies were squeezed deep into the newspaper’s sports coverage, while Fox Sports was equally devoted to the stunningly physical Reds-Blues rugby league collision (they don’t tackle below the nipples, only above!)

Moving on to the capital of Victoria, where Aussie Rules reigns, in Melbourne tomorrow, it will be a similar story. Fate has contrived to ensure that not only will the second Test clash with the Socceroos’ opening World Cup match against France (the kick-offs are only five minutes apart) but 20 minutes beforehand, around 90,000 fans are expected at the MCG for the meeting between Hawthorn and the Adelaide Crows.

The Crows were beaten grand finalists last year and Hawthorn have won three of the last five premierships. In other words, these two are monsters of AFL. This will be huge.

However, today is rugby union’s day in the sun and in the heel of the hunt, you always get a sense that Brisbane, and particularly Lang Park, as it is traditionally known, or Suncorp Stadium, is their favourite rugby union home.

The stadium is about a 20-minute walk from central Brisbane, which makes it very resonant of Lansdowne Road/Aviva Stadium, and with a crowd in excess of 42,000 anticipated for the game. Across the road from one side of the ground is the Newstead Brewing Company, which is only the company’s second bar and opened as recently as February of last year.

Busy and bustling

An expansive, open-air design, was built with Queensland Reds and Wallabies Tests largely in mind, although even on the night before the game had that busy and bustling Friday feeling. But this is nothing compared to match day.

The forecast for the Saturday night of the game was fine, although with bands of heavy rain passing through before and after, one can never be sure, and Brisbane – named after the river which bears the city’s name – has been to known to flood its banks.

Two of Newstead’s staff, Sebastian and Fiona, reckon that at least 1,200 people will pass through their pub eatery on match day, more even than was the case for last October’s game with the All Blacks – which, in case we weren’t listening – every single member of the Irish coaching or playing staff have referenced for over a week.

Newstead is also in partnership with both the Queensland Rugby Union and the Gold Brigade, the official supports clubs of the Wallabies, who will invade the place in their yellow berets amid what should be a sea of gold and green both inside and outside Lang Park.

Such is the Irish diaspora that the team enjoy this away support pretty much wherever they go and it is significant. As Robbie Henshaw said during the week: “I’m telling you, that actually helps so much. It’s hard to explain because when you turn around and you see all the jerseys in the stand and you hear the roar, you think a bit.

“I suppose in this country in particular it’s probably more common and you can see it more. A lot of people have been on to me, mates and relations who are living over here, so it’s definitely more evident that there will be a massive fanbase for us here and that’s going to help us on the weekend and spur us on.

“It definitely helps, the nerves and the performance. It lifts and drives the team so it’s going to be huge on the weekend and hopefully there’s a massive turnout of Irish.”

Cheers booming

The bar will open from 10am, and will be heaving from mid-day onwards, with bookings throughout the day and night, while largely quiet – allowing for the cheers booming from across the road – during the match. They estimate that at least 20 kegs of their Newstead’s own brew, The Ballymore (Queensland lager, and nice it is too) will be sold during the course of match-day, and that’s leaving aside their array of pale ales.

The ex-pat, Australian-based Australians especially, and travelling support, swell attendances and, of course, their global popularity with bar owners will extend to all three Tests on this tour.

Ireland last played in Australia in this same ground back in 2010, when losing a one-off Test by 22-15. Only David Pocock and Kurtley Beale survive from the Wallabies’ 23, while Rob Kearney, Johnny Sexton, Cian Healy and Sean Cronin survive from Ireland’s. So for 28 of this 32-man squad, this is their first Irish tour to Australia.

Like their fans, the Irish team have been missed.