Comments on: All Blacks fear of failure a big burden to carry

By: Greg Smith

Greg Smith — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:38:42 +0000

New Zealand are notoriously ‘soft in the head’ and the ‘chokers’ tag has stuck – you got to love it !

By: katzilla

katzilla — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:30:49 +0000

Your right Sheek, the attitude of some OZ rugby fans leans towards Optimism rather then Confidence.
Last night on the Rugby Club, Campo, MArto and Kafer all used the word ‘Chance’ when talking about how the game will pan out. If you take your best team to NZ against an ABs team without a first five and still are relying on ‘Chance’ then something is wrong.

By: sheek

sheek — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:29:53 +0000

I would rather be in the AB’s shoes & play out of a fear of losing, if that’s what it is.

Rather than be in the Wallabies shoes & play in hope of winning, rather than any great expectations of doing same.

A 20% win ratio against the ABs is hardly the kind of acceptable record for a nation with claims to being a top-tier rugby giant.

By: ohtani's jacket,

ohtani's jacket, — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:35:25 +0000

I don’t agree that the All Blacks play out of a fear of failure.

The attitude that there’s more pressure on them than the Wallabies is what blew up in the Wallabies’ faces last year. The All Blacks focus on themselves come Test match time. People tend to think that Henry’s a grumpy old fuck and that the All Blacks don’t enjoy playing rugby, but I don’t think anything could be further from the truth. Remember last year when Aussie Roarers were saying the All Blacks’ heads were down in the training, their body language didn’t look good, etc.?

The worst thing the Wallabies can do is focus on the All Blacks. Forget about them. Work out what you wnat to do on attack and what you want to do on defence and ignore everything else. France were committed to their rush defence, the Wallabies have to be committed to whatever it is they’re gunning for, which seems to be an ill advised breakdown scheme, but we’ll have to wait and see about that.

The All Blacks spent a looong time trying to figure out how to beat the Wallabies during the MacQueen/Eales era. That was a team that seemed to have an impenetrable psyche. Those “gentleman” seemed like they could win from any position. And the “they did it to us again” mindset plagued the All Blacks as it may plague the Wallabies, but the reality is that things don’t change until there’s a shift in the player balance. This happened between ’95 and ’98 and again from ’01-05.

I think it’s inevitable that the Wallabies will wind up a stronger team than the All Blacks, but if you rush in with the urgency of it having to happen *now*, you won’t be able to deal with the last throws of a once great team.