I must say that Reds vs Crusaders matches hold a lot of emotional and 'down memory lane' value for me and, I'm sure, for many others here too.
The superb and 'smart rugby' manner by which the Link-coached Reds started to convincingly beat the Crusaders from early 2010 (maybe IIRC even the first Super trial game that year) right through to the golden moment of July 2011 defined with a sharp light everything that was best about this coach's chemistry and achievement with his players and vice versa.
They were - all of them, each sweet victory - such revealing wins and, for we fans, such confidence-boosting wins over the greatest-ever Super Rugby franchise filled with truly wonderful NZ players and top-flight coaching skills.
These numerous great Cru-beating moments gave breath to the belief that the Reds could, at last, use all their talents with authenticity, power and guile and maybe, just maybe, rise again as a proud force in Australian rugby.
And so it was to be.
But then in late 2013 came (for me at least) the most convincing and devastating evidence of the rapid decline from the mountain top that had unquestionably taken over the team and its playing credibility.
The S15 QF vs the Crusaders on July 20, 2013 in Christchurch. Final score 38-9. 4 Crusader tries, Reds nil tries, the best for us was 3 from 4 penalty goals kicked. Much worse was the sort of play that underpinned all that. The Reds were mostly spineless in attitude and efficiency (especially in our forwards work), the attack was listless and incoherent and our defence so obviously poor. No players stood out, it was like a kind of surrender as though pride and belief had vaporised within the short space of almost exactly 2 years.
'When Greatness Calls, We Will Respond' was the QRU's early 2012 season catch-cry. But we never did respond, not really, we rested on laurels and more and more on individual skills and declining moments of rare rugby brilliance.
Then came the RG period. On May 11, 2014 at home the Crusaders thrashed us 57-29. 6 tries to 4. Colin Slade kicked 11/11. It was no real contest. 31,000 fans left knowing how far we'd really fallen from that wonderful 2010-11 Cru-beating period, way, way too short to call an era, but so fine, so inspiring was it.
Gone too by 2014 was Digby's turtle dance and QC (Quade Cooper)'s backflips, these delightful gestures were now just faded memories of a time when all rose in happiness and joy at what were so many free, exhilarating displays of a brand of rugby that gained not only QLD's but also the world's attention and praise. And then-huge Foxtel viewing numbers told of the public's joining in with what The Queensland Reds had done in re-invigorating broad Australian fan engagement with this great code.
So when I think of this Friday's game against the genuinely - as a sustained franchise - great Crusaders, I find myself near misty-eyed with nostalgia for a fleeting time when my otherwise workaholic world was distracted by a perfect little time when the glories of a great sport played near my doorstep gave new meaning to life in the funny old ways that only sport can and, for me, in ways only great rugby can as that sport.
