How a picture covered in bubble wrap will inspire the Brumbies at Eden Park

Mounted above the away change room in Auckland will be a photo of "Quinzo" sitting on the John Deere buggy he once used to zip around Brumbies headquarters.

Because when you go to the toughest place to win in Super Rugby, you take a piece of home to level the playing field.

Garry Quinlivan was the 86-year-old spirit of the Brumbies. His photo usually sits above the entry to the home dressing room at Canberra Stadium, where the ACT are undefeated this season.

Now they're taking it to Auckland for a semi-final against the Blues on Friday night as the Brumbies look to do what no Australian team has done before by winning a final across the Tasman.

Quinlivan was with the Brumbies from day one, when he turned up and declared he was just here to help, and his death last year sparked tributes across the globe and brought an all-star cast together at Canberra Stadium for his memorial service.

It was there ex-Brumby Brett Robinson laughed Quinlivan was the "chief shitters officer", because he did the jobs nobody else would do. ACT coach Stephen Larkham reckons you wouldn't find anyone more one-eyed in support.

On the day of the 1997 grand final at Eden Park, you could have found him downing an ale at 8.30am just to calm the nerves.

You wonder how he would be feeling this week, when the Brumbies go back to the same venue to face a Blues outfit boasting an average winning margin of 25 points on home turf this year.

He won't be there for a morning beer, but his memory will be. "Quinzo" is printed inside the collar of the heritage jerseys the Brumbies will wear throughout the finals series.

"A lot of the boys feel that heritage when we put it on. We understand the history we're representing, the 'Bernie' [Larkham] and [George] Gregan days and even before that," Brumbies hooker Billy Pollard said.

"It's very special for myself and all the boys, it's not something we take lightly. It's extremely exciting."

The Brumbies have lost five semi-finals since reaching the 2013 decider, and history says home ground advantage matters.

They fell to the NSW Waratahs by 18 points in Sydney in 2014, to the Hurricanes by 20 in Wellington a year later, and to the Jaguares by 32 points in Buenos Aires in 2019.

The Brumbies won a Super Rugby AU decider at home in 2020 but lost the return bout in Brisbane the next year. And when normality resumed? They dropped back-to-back semi-finals against the Blues and Chiefs across the Tasman.

They enter Eden Park as rank outsiders with the bookmakers but there is a genuine belief within Brumbies camp they can finally break the drought.

"We know how good the Blues are, so it's a really exciting challenge for the whole playing group," Pollard said.

"I don't think any Australian team has ever won over there in the finals. It's a massive challenge and one we're really looking forward to."

If you're so inclined to believe, maybe the picture of the old man sitting in a buggy can make the difference this time.

They're the kind of people who fly to New Zealand and back in less than 24 hours without bothering to book a hotel to stay in and the kind who have a wardrobe overflowing with ACT Brumbies jerseys.

Want to know what the Brumbies' pursuit of a drought-breaking Super Rugby title means to ACT rugby fans?

Try Bik Ray, whose whirlwind trip to Hamilton for last year's semi-final is some yarn.

Told he couldn't go because he would miss his niece's birthday the next day, Ray was adamant he could make it.

He flew to New Zealand on game day and didn't worry about booking a hotel. He hired a car and drove from Auckland to Hamilton, watched the game and mingled with the Brumbies at the team hotel after the game. From there he drove back to Auckland, waited for his flight and made it back to Canberra for the birthday party.

Try Jim Taylor and his family, who have flown from Canberra to South Africa, New Zealand and Argentina for Brumbies games. His daughter once flew from Los Angeles to Hamilton for the 2013 decider.

Now they could be flying to New Zealand two weeks in a row with a group of avid Brumbies supporters bound for Auckland on what for years has been a futile mission - but they hope this year can be different.

A win over the Blues in a semi-final at Eden Park, where no ACT team has won in 11 years, would be enough to land the Brumbies a place in the grand final.

Then all eyes will turn to the Wellington cake tin, where a legion of desperate Brumbies fans will be hoping the resurgent Chiefs can beat the favoured Hurricanes - because if they do, the decider is coming to Canberra Stadium.

"Hopefully this week we can break the hoodoo," Ray said.

"I've been to South Africa five times, New Zealand 10 times, Australia all over. There was a period there for 10 years we went everywhere in Australia.

"We're all rooting for a home final."