Forty-one years after his words inspired Australia to a famous America's Cup victory, the late Bob Hawke has done it again.
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It was the former Prime Minister who Australia's men's sevens coach John Manenti turned to before the team left their Paris Olympic village to play the United States in a quarter-final. They won 18-0.
In 1983 Hawke told Australia II skipper John Bertrand to "destroy the bastards" before they did just that to end a 132-year US stranglehold on the cup.
Bertrand was a guest in camp with Manenti's side earlier this year and a quarter-final match-up with the US played to script.
"One of the slides I showed the boys before we left was a quote from Bob Hawke, which was 'go and smash the bastards', that he'd said to the crew," Manenti said after they'd booked a Saturday semi-final with two-time defending champions Fiji.
"It was just a reminder that Australia-America has some history and again, like yesterday, we felt an obligation to get the Australian Olympic campaign off to a good start."
Victory snapped a run of quarter-final exits for Australia's improved men in the sport's previous two Games appearances.
Australia led 10-0 at halftime, in control and scoring through James Turner and Corey Toole, before Maurice Longbottom slotted a penalty goal and picked up a loose ball to cross over himself and complete the rout.
Australia had earlier beaten this year's world series stand-outs Argentina 22-14, having registered victories against Samoa and Kenya on Wednesday's opening day.
The quarter-final win was built on stout defence rather than silky offence, Mark Nawaqanitawase stuck on the bench as the clock ran out after a brilliant cameo against Argentina.
"Winning ugly's okay," Manenti said.
"It wasn't our finest performance but we've played better and lost games and that was a pretty important one to win.
"I know we've got more weapons to fire there and we're going to need them."
Teams will have a day off before Friday night's opening ceremony, before medals are decided at Stade de France on Saturday.
Earlier, Fiji remained unbeaten in Olympic competition after a comeback 19-15 defeat of Ireland, with the match-winning try looking as though it was created from a Fiji knock-on that went undetected.
South Africa will play hosts France in the other semi-final after they upset New Zealand 14-7.
In front of a surging capacity crowd, the French led Argentina 21-0 at halftime.
But they conceded two second-half tries and were forced to hold on with one man in the sin-bin for the final minutes.
French 15-a-side captain Antoine Dupont showed his composure to wind down the clock and then throw a dummy on the full-time siren before racing away to seal a 26-14 win.
Australian Associated Press
