The inspiring scene of the movie Invictus came to life on the Waratah’s training pitch.
It was like a scene out of the movie Invictus.
After the Waratah’s final training session before Saturday’s Super Rugby final, Adam Ashley-Cooper dropped to a knee with the entire squad huddled around him, arm in arm, and recited a poem he wrote himself.
The rhyming stanza lasted for 20 minutes and was met with rapturous applause at its conclusion.
Adam Ashley-Cooper inspired his team mates with his poem
Waratahs prop Sekope Kepu said it was the most motivating speech he has heard in his rugby career.
“It certainly sent shivers down my spine,” Kepu said. “It’s pretty emotional stuff, you can’t get any better than that.”
“When someone goes to length and includes 30 odd blokes in a poem, touching on a little bit about his experience with them or where they’ve come from, it’s pretty special.”
For the past three weeks, senior Waratahs players have given motivational speeches to the group at the conclusion of each session. Kepu said Ashley-Cooper’s inspiring words shows just how close Michael Cheika’s men have gelled together towards the back end of the season.
“Whether I’m not meant to share it or not, it speaks a lot about what we’ve built as a team and the bonds and everything regardless of whether you’re in the 22 or not,” Kepu said. “Everyone’s really bought into the culture and everyone just loves being around each other.”
“It’s the opposite to Cliffy (Palu) who said two or three words last week. Everybody’s got that respect for one another and everyone’s got time for one another. We just love being amongst a team and hopefully that goes a long way to what we’re facing on Saturday.”
With a crowd of over 50,000 expected to pack into ANZ Stadium, a venue described by the Crusaders as a “neutral”, Kepu said his team’s success at the ground and a vociferous crowd will be the perfect combination for an inaugural Super Rugby victory.
” ‘Cheiks’ mentioned it before, we’d play them on Anzac Parade if we had to,” Kepu said. “Regardless of what they say, it’s a chance to perform in front of our fans and that’s something we wanted to revolutionise this year and get our fans back and get rugby back alive in Australia and Sydney in particular.”
An 18-year old Rob Horne was one man who experienced the heartbreak of the Waratah’s grand final defeat in 2008 to the Crusaders.
Horne said the occasion of a grand final was something he took for granted in his first season of Super Rugby.
“In your first year you make a grand final, you think that’s all right we’ll win it next year, but it doesn’t work like that,” Horne said. “They come few and far between and that’s what I picked up; when you’re there and you’re having a good year, you’ve got to make it the best year.”
“We’ve got a lot of guys in the team who have never played a finals game let alone a grand final.”
In their two fixtures at ANZ Stadium this season, the Waratahs have won comfortably by 27 and 31 points. For this to be replicated, Horne said Tahs fans need to get behind their team like they did last week against the Brumbies.
“Our supporter base probably culminated last week with that full house and it was an incredible atmosphere and it was the most hostile Waratahs crowd I’ve ever experienced,” Horne said. “It certainly does help.”
The Waratahs will be looking to extract inside knowledge from Daryl Gibson, who played a key role in the five of the Crusaders’ record seven Super Rugby titles.
Waratahs halfback Nick Phipps said last week the former All-Blacks centre would be their “mole” in the lead-up, but Gibson reckons he doesn’t have the inside knowledge most people think he has.
“I had a little bit of a giggle at that, mainly apart from knowing what Toddy (Blackadder) has in his coffee, I know no more than what any other coach does who studies video tape,” Gibson said.