Writing about rugby union at the height of Origin hype – at a wild guess, I am going to say last night's game was touted, within minutes of finishing, as "one of the greatest Origin games EVER!" – is, I grant you, a tad problematic.
But what the hell? This is important. And it can't wait. For you see, even as we speak, the True Believers in the Tahs – on a bad day, a dwindling band, though on a good day we can see the cavalry galloping to our aid – know that just one more time the Promised Land is up ahead.
You will recall that last year, after a lazy two decades of being just that, the Tahs suddenly played with the form of their lives to give the Crusaders an absolute belting, a complete thumping, a lesson in rugby and how to play it, by registering a crushing ... one-point win over them. (After the bell, seeing as you ask.)
And you're right, since that time, this season they have been reminiscent of that wonderful line from George Bernard Shaw I quote too often: "Wagner has some wonderful moments ... but some terrible half hours!"
For most of this season we have just seen flashes of brilliance, rather than anything sustained, and on occasion they've been downright woeful, never more so than against the Western Force.
Until last week.
Last Saturday night, in the grand final rematch against ye old foe, the Crusaders, suddenly they were baaaaaaack, playing big-match rugby against big-match opponents, just when they are needed most.
After our Rolling Thunder of a forward pack spat back the ball time after time, the worthy Nick Phipps unleashed a backline that was in its form of the season. Five-eighth Bernard Foley carved them left, right, and straight up the middle; Israel Folau was dangerous with every touch of the ball, sucking in two and three defenders at a time. Adam Ashley-Cooper was back to his old form and, out on the wing, Rob Horne was demonstrating to Tahs and Wallaby coach Michael Cheika that he is the form Australian winger of the year. All this, and the best news of all, drawing a big cheer from the crowd, was that Richie McCaw received the yellow card for persistent off-side! (True, it was well over a decade late, but it was something.)
True, there was a big issue in the forwards with the subsequent suspension of Tahs hooker Tolu Latu and lock Will Skelton – who was a revelation on the night for his devastating skill and aggression, which saw him practically bully the Crusaders pack – for a lifting tackle, but in the weeks to come, the Tahs can cope even if those suspensions stick.
For far more powerful even than the personnel was the spirit with which they played.
They played with that spirit in the final last year. I wrote at the time, and I meant it: "Should rugby in these parts last another 1000 years, men and women, Tah-gics all, will still say, this, this victory over the Crusaders to win the Super title by 33-32 was your finest hour."
And it was. They attacked from everywhere, ran the ball, backed themselves, executed moves of staggering imagination and skill and never doubted themselves, even when the Gods of rugby occasionally snarled at them.
But a finer hour still can beckon if, over these next few weeks they can build to that again and win – let's say it – back-to-back Super Championships!
Always, their steering star must be the way they played that final last year.
The weird thing about watching replays of old matches is that, sometimes, they can be like wine left in a bottle with a bad cork. That is, however good the match is at the time, whatever thrill it gives in days to follow, it can be that if you watch it again years later, it is simply not as you remember and has lost all of its pizzazz. But the final last year was not like that.
It was rugby the way it was meant to be played. And the wonderful thing about last week was that we saw patches of it again.
Go you Tahs. You are now at the top of the Australian table, and second overall. Maintain the rage. Build towards another final. Play it like you did last year, and I will race the great Rabbit Warren to say it was "one of the greatest matches EVER!"
Twitter: @Peter_Fitz
