Why can't SA Super Rugby teams play every weekend like the last?
It's one of the great imponderables.
But suffice to say, SA teams have the most fragile psyches in the world. The Bulls can't win on the road, the Stormers can't play for 80 minutes, the Sharks can't win at Loftus or Newlands and the Cats can't win - hey, each has their problem.
It does seem to be a South African disease. We generally can't stand arrogance in others - we hate the Aussies for their arrogance and whinging. Yet we have a pretty good record of shooting our mouths off and less evidence than we'd like to support our contention as being one of the best (in either rugby or cricket).
What we seem to be missing is the quiet self-belief that comes from a winning culture.
I went to school at SACS - producer of Ross Skeate, Ismael Dollie, Paul Delport, Percival Montgomery, Peter Kirsten amongst others. But my time there sadly did not coincide with winning results and we typically got thumped by Paul Roos, Paarl Gym, Bishops and had patchy performances against Rondebosch and Wynberg.
Later, playing club rugby at Villagers, it was an eye-opener watching guys from SACS and other underperforming schools suddenly start playing with belief. They were playing next to guys who'd run over them at school and in one of the top clubs in the Cape. Suddenly they were favourites.
You see belief is 70% of the game. When you run onto that field believing the game is yours to lose two things happen. Firstly, you expect a high standard of your team-mates and yourself. You have a record and reputation to lose. But secondly and far more importantly, you enjoy the game. I tell you what, winning feels great. Anybody who has kids: don't tell them that losing doesn't matter and it's the experience that counts. Yeah sympathise with a loss, but encourage a win.
Now put yourself in the shoes of our teams with some of the above expectations - Bulls, you will lose on the road. Cats, you've got the worst record in Super Rugby. Stormers, well you'll produce an occasional moment of brilliance or even game (remember the Blues in Auckland, 2004?), but you'll never sustain it. Sharks, well you just don't have enough greats anymore.
That's a psychology that needs to be broken. Which is very difficult to do from the inside. It is easier for Laurie Mains to coach the Cats and say they have the beating of a New Zealand team and generate the belief. It is easier for Tony Brown to get Ruan Pienaar to believe he's the next great South African scrumhalf.
The difference between self-belief and arrogance is reality. And the reality is that this last weekend showed our capability and potential. But the reality is also that we have by far the worst share of the spoils against our traditional Antipodean competitors.
In order for South African teams to move to the top of the log, either an outside influence must be wrought to change the psychology (the radical, quicker option) or self belief and acceptance of reality must be built.
The latter is the more likely course. Good leaders typically have an innate understanding of how to accomplish this. Psychologists have methodologies. Common to both is a realistic and frank, dispassionate assessment of the facts. Then a plan is built with a moderate goal and the method for achieving it. And then things are typically taken one day at a time, one match at a time within the plan.
We have had some good leaders who have achieved this. Francois Pienaar, Kitch Christie, Gary Teichman and Jake White. If you have the chance (if you have not seen it) watch a tape of SA's 1995 World Cup journey. The most remarkable excerpt was Joel Stransky's commentary on the preparation for the final against the All Blacks. He recounts that during the video session they watched Jonah Lomu run over everyone. At the end there was a hush. Kitch Christie stood up after a while and remarked in an off-hand manner, "We can take them," and walked out of the room. Joel remembers, "Well if Kitch thinks we can take them, then of course we can."
Battles are won an inch at a time. To regularly relive weekends like this last one, South African teams need to do the following:
Nobody is saying you don't go out there to win every game (remember the outcry when Alan Solomons rested his key players for a match on the road in New Zealand?).
But a the above attitude allows you to go into a match like the one against the Crusaders thinking, "You know, winning this match is a bonus to our plan. Let's go out there and have some fun trying to pull that off." And it is amazing how the decreased pressure, realism and enjoyment lead to better than expected results. (By the way, nobody has fun missing tackles - whether against a team targeted for a win or not - you get the idea?)
Of course it's difficult to play the above back to supporters who expect wins in every match. SA Cricket tried in a summarised fashion, talking of "Brave Cricket." I think the summarised description is necessary.
SA teams have a mountain to climb in changing the recent Super Rugby losing culture. They better have a good plan that addresses the psychology of that if they wish to relive weekends like the last more regularly.
But suffice to say, SA teams have the most fragile psyches in the world. The Bulls can't win on the road, the Stormers can't play for 80 minutes, the Sharks can't win at Loftus or Newlands and the Cats can't win - hey, each has their problem.
It does seem to be a South African disease. We generally can't stand arrogance in others - we hate the Aussies for their arrogance and whinging. Yet we have a pretty good record of shooting our mouths off and less evidence than we'd like to support our contention as being one of the best (in either rugby or cricket).
What we seem to be missing is the quiet self-belief that comes from a winning culture.
I went to school at SACS - producer of Ross Skeate, Ismael Dollie, Paul Delport, Percival Montgomery, Peter Kirsten amongst others. But my time there sadly did not coincide with winning results and we typically got thumped by Paul Roos, Paarl Gym, Bishops and had patchy performances against Rondebosch and Wynberg.
Later, playing club rugby at Villagers, it was an eye-opener watching guys from SACS and other underperforming schools suddenly start playing with belief. They were playing next to guys who'd run over them at school and in one of the top clubs in the Cape. Suddenly they were favourites.
You see belief is 70% of the game. When you run onto that field believing the game is yours to lose two things happen. Firstly, you expect a high standard of your team-mates and yourself. You have a record and reputation to lose. But secondly and far more importantly, you enjoy the game. I tell you what, winning feels great. Anybody who has kids: don't tell them that losing doesn't matter and it's the experience that counts. Yeah sympathise with a loss, but encourage a win.
Now put yourself in the shoes of our teams with some of the above expectations - Bulls, you will lose on the road. Cats, you've got the worst record in Super Rugby. Stormers, well you'll produce an occasional moment of brilliance or even game (remember the Blues in Auckland, 2004?), but you'll never sustain it. Sharks, well you just don't have enough greats anymore.
That's a psychology that needs to be broken. Which is very difficult to do from the inside. It is easier for Laurie Mains to coach the Cats and say they have the beating of a New Zealand team and generate the belief. It is easier for Tony Brown to get Ruan Pienaar to believe he's the next great South African scrumhalf.
The difference between self-belief and arrogance is reality. And the reality is that this last weekend showed our capability and potential. But the reality is also that we have by far the worst share of the spoils against our traditional Antipodean competitors.
In order for South African teams to move to the top of the log, either an outside influence must be wrought to change the psychology (the radical, quicker option) or self belief and acceptance of reality must be built.
The latter is the more likely course. Good leaders typically have an innate understanding of how to accomplish this. Psychologists have methodologies. Common to both is a realistic and frank, dispassionate assessment of the facts. Then a plan is built with a moderate goal and the method for achieving it. And then things are typically taken one day at a time, one match at a time within the plan.
We have had some good leaders who have achieved this. Francois Pienaar, Kitch Christie, Gary Teichman and Jake White. If you have the chance (if you have not seen it) watch a tape of SA's 1995 World Cup journey. The most remarkable excerpt was Joel Stransky's commentary on the preparation for the final against the All Blacks. He recounts that during the video session they watched Jonah Lomu run over everyone. At the end there was a hush. Kitch Christie stood up after a while and remarked in an off-hand manner, "We can take them," and walked out of the room. Joel remembers, "Well if Kitch thinks we can take them, then of course we can."
Battles are won an inch at a time. To regularly relive weekends like this last one, South African teams need to do the following:
- We are starting at the bottom of the pile - 4 wins out of 11 matches for the Stormers - those are the facts.
- X and Y has been responsible for our performance - our teams have all the stats in the world to help them accomplish this task - ask Gary Gold. X might be possession, Y might be missed tackles.
- Our moderate goal for next season is to finish in the top 6, achieve a tackle success rate of 80% and achieve an aggregate of 60% possession per match.
- In order to meet our moderate goal, we need to beat the following teams: ......
Nobody is saying you don't go out there to win every game (remember the outcry when Alan Solomons rested his key players for a match on the road in New Zealand?).
But a the above attitude allows you to go into a match like the one against the Crusaders thinking, "You know, winning this match is a bonus to our plan. Let's go out there and have some fun trying to pull that off." And it is amazing how the decreased pressure, realism and enjoyment lead to better than expected results. (By the way, nobody has fun missing tackles - whether against a team targeted for a win or not - you get the idea?)
Of course it's difficult to play the above back to supporters who expect wins in every match. SA Cricket tried in a summarised fashion, talking of "Brave Cricket." I think the summarised description is necessary.
SA teams have a mountain to climb in changing the recent Super Rugby losing culture. They better have a good plan that addresses the psychology of that if they wish to relive weekends like the last more regularly.
posted at 11:39 PM
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