Dan Vickerman has been remembered as “an absolute colossus” and “an adoring dad” at an emotional service for the former Wallabies star in Sydney.
A who’s who of Australian rugby were among about a thousand family and friends to pack Sydney University Oval No1’s grandstand and surrounds to celebrate Vickerman’s life and mourn his loss on Wednesday.
World Cup winners, former team-mates, Test captains Phil Kearns, Phil Waugh and Stirling Mortlock, ARU boss Bill Pulver and Wallabies coach Michael Cheika were all in attendance.
Grand slam great Mark Ella, members of the business world – including former former Liberal Party leader Kerry Chikarovski – and team-mates from his playing and study days at Cambridge University were also in attendance.
But it was Vickerman’s South African high school friend Richard Bell, former Sydney University coach Chris Malone, ex-team-mate David Lyons and family friend David Marr who delivered the touching eulogies.
Bell recalled how Vickerman “excelled at rugby, water polo and getting suspended” during his time at Bishops in Cape Town, a renowned rugby breeding ground. “He was determined, a deep thinker and fiercely loyal,” Bell said.
Vickerman, a 63-Test stalwart, died 10 days ago, at the age of 37, shocking the rugby world. He left behind wife Sarah and two young sons, Joseph and Xavier.
“He was a giant of a man, an absolute colossus,” Malone said. “Just a champion, full stop ... a laughing friend at the end of a bar. If Dan said he was going to do something for you, he did. [But] he could never take a pat on the back.”
Lyons paid tribute to a man who “never blew his own trumpet” and “who spent 20 hours a day buried in a library surviving on cigarettes and coffee”.
Marr commended the towering lock’s wife Sarah as being Vickerman’s rock and promised her sons that they were the most important thing in their father’s life. “He was an extraordinary dad. His passing leaves a hole in all of our hearts,” Marr said.
“He was just so incredibly humble, so grounded, never caught up in the hype of being a Wallaby. Always so hard on the outside, but soft as butter on the inside. So forgiving.”
Grieving NSW Waratahs planned to pay their respects from South Africa after making the tough call to miss their former team-mate’s service while on Super Rugby duty in Vickerman’s country of birth.
Halfback Nick Phipps was among a handful who played with Vickerman at club, state and national level with Sydney University, the Waratahs and Wallabies.
“We sort of made the decision knowing the big fella, he’d probably prefer us to be over here working hard early,” Phipps said. “So we made the idea that we’re going to try to have something over here ... just to remember the big fella in our own way.
“That’ll be a good experience for us and we’ll be able to sort of give a little bit of closure before we lead into the weekend.”