Clarke Dermody's first taste of one of Super Rugby's most gruelling road trips? The Brumbies of 2004 put 50 on his Highlanders, so it's safe to say the ACT have almost always been "the best Australian team since I was playing".
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Now he returns as Highlanders coach looking to pull off an upset in a Super Rugby Pacific quarter-final at a venue the Brumbies have turned into a fortress.
The Brumbies have lost just three games at home since the dawn of Super Rugby Pacific in 2022 and a win on Saturday could cap off a clean sweep at Canberra Stadium this year.
The Highlanders squad flew to Auckland on Wednesday night in an attempt to take the sting out of the trip, before catching another flight to Sydney on Thursday morning.
From there they will pile onto a bus for a three-hour trip to Canberra.
"It's not the easiest place to get to in Australia, especially from Dunedin. They did it coming over during the season and managed to turn us over," Dermody said.
"We love travelling. We obviously have to do a fair bit of it from Dunedin. It's a good chance for our team to get tight.
![The Brumbies host the Highlanders in a quarter-final on Saturday night. Picture by Keegan Carroll The Brumbies host the Highlanders in a quarter-final on Saturday night. Picture by Keegan Carroll](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/36vwtM5n3dmMVgNPycRBEHz/4fe0625f-966f-4636-a46a-3ce841c26515.jpg/r0_229_4476_2755_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"We're actually jumping on the plane soon to get to Auckland to take a bit of sting out of [Thursday]. It's a good challenge for the boys after a pretty solid training week to tighten up as we travel.
"Those connections hopefully can get us through the tough times that will come in this game."
The Brumbies are looking to become the first Australian team to win a full Super Rugby competition since the NSW Waratahs in 2014.
The only clubs to lift the trophy in the nine years since? The Highlanders, Hurricanes and Crusaders.
Maybe the landscape is changing. After all, the Crusaders have won every full Super Rugby title since 2017 - and a pair of Super Rugby Aotearoa grand finals in COVID-impacted years - but they're not in the mix.
![The Brumbies are unbeaten at home this year. Picture by Elesa Kurtz The Brumbies are unbeaten at home this year. Picture by Elesa Kurtz](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/36vwtM5n3dmMVgNPycRBEHz/2e0be54c-6b5e-47dc-8f52-5f195762330a.jpg/r0_112_5033_2942_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The Crusaders narrowly missed out on the eight-team finals series, but most punters expect another New Zealand club to reign supreme given they make up four of the top six teams.
The Brumbies are Australian rugby's best chance of upsetting the apple cart. Yes, the Queensland Reds and Melbourne Rebels are still alive - even the Fijian Drua are planning a quarter-final ambush.
But Stephen Larkham's group is the bastion of hope for those cheering for teams outside New Zealand.
They are the only non-New Zealand team to host a final and they have a perfect record at home this year - but they will be without two of their scrum's biggest weapons.
James Slipper is nursing a calf tear. Blake Schoupp's shoulder is busted.
But they've still got Tom Wright at the back, who may be playing his way into a Wallabies jersey, and a winger named Corey Toole with jetpacks strapped to his boots.
The Highlanders struggled to contain Toole in March, when the electric winger's blistering pace helped the Brumbies to their first win in Dunedin since 2013.
"Both teams are better now. Both teams have found the style of play that suits them the best," Dermody said.
"We're well aware of how we need to play against the Brumbies, it's just a matter of if we can turn up and put them under enough pressure in this game.
"The Brumbies are a good team, we're preparing for them at their best, they're well versed at home. They've put themselves in a position to earn that right, now it's up to us to make the trip over and give them a good nudge."