Three good rugby friends – Tom, Ruck and Harry – met up on a Saturday night in a local pub. After sinking a few beers together, circumstances arose that saw all three doing their own thing that night.
Tom was coming back from the bathroom and got himself involved in a king of the table pool game.
Ruck bumped into a friend who was heading off to the casino and decided to join him.
Harry got talking to a group of girls, who convinced him to go clubbing with them.
Little did they know, but all three were about to have nights that they would forever talk about.
Tom could do no wrong. He had his favourite tunes pumping out on the jukebox and it didn’t matter how many balls his opponents had sunk, he would somehow find a way to come back and win.
His exploits started attracting an audience. By the end of the night, the entire pub was cheering on Tom. Despite having drinks bought for him and pulling off outrageous trick shots, Tom could do no wrong.
Meanwhile, Ruck was attracting the attention of floor staff at the casino. Blackjack, roulette, Texas Hold’em cash games, it didn’t matter. Ruck was on a winning streak that had a firestorm of exit strategies for him being whipped up in the security hub.
Comped drinks, rotation of dealers and croupiers, distractions from growing numbers betting on him or cheering him on, Ruck was in the zone and continued amassing sizeable winnings. Nothing could stand in the way of this betting juggernaut.
Harry had never had much success with the ladies; you’d never have guessed it the night he was having.
Everything he said was met with raucous laughter from the gaggle of slender beauties poring over every comment he made. His eccentric dance moves elicited howls and whistles of approval.
The following day, the three joined up and tried to recount the previous night. They all tripped over each other’s stories as they attempted to make their legendary night heard. Each one tried to persuade the others to join him the following weekend to see if they could witness the freakish events that had unfolded.
The following Friday, Tom put the coin down on the pool table. A few people recognised him and Tom was happy to relive the previous week’s exploits.
Ruck similarly attracted frantic whispers from a few casino patrons. He put down big bets on the blackjack table and eager eyes watched the end result closely.
Harry went to the club he had gone to the previous week. He was excited to see a couple of familiar faces. He confidently strode towards them.
I think you know what happened next. Tom lost his first game and despite numerous attempts to claim back the table, they were all met with resounding failure. Ruck lost all his earnings from the previous week. He had a free dinner and drinks for his troubles but all attempts to limit the amount of his losses fell away in a few moments of recklessness.
Needless to say, Harry’s advances were met with stony, cold looks from the women he had met last week. Whatever had been flavour of the week was now off the menu and rotting out in the open.
Rugby is no different. Every team has their high point and low point during any given calendar year.
When you look at the high points this year for the SANZAR countries you’d probably nominate Ellis Park, Eden Park and Suncorp respectively, despite the last match ending in a bitter low for the Wallabies. Perhaps one of the two blowouts against France is a better example.
However, all those matches saw things go right for those respective teams and they put in a performance that would, in an ideal world, be a marker for all other performances to live up to.
Similarly Perth, Sydney and Rosario could be argued as low points for those respective teams and examples of what to avoid doing at all costs.
In between there was a great range of performances.
South Africa started uncharacteristically out of sorts against Argentina, Australia fell away in the away games and rode a roller coaster of emotions in the early stages, and New Zealand’s defence looked unable to cope with teams running at them instead of kicking.
Every side aims for consistency. The more constant your performance, the less susceptible you are to bursts of improvement from the opposition. Consistency is intimidating because the opposition knows only the best or close to it is good enough to beat a consistent team.
When a team produces that convincing performance, however, the temptation to label that performance as a new standard is overwhelming. We reached these heights and now we must not climb down from them again.
But to expect to put in amazing performances each time is unrealistic.
England in 2012 put in a remarkable performance against New Zealand. They have shown flashes of that performance but none has been anywhere near the level of intensity or execution since that emphatic victory.
The Eden Park game was by no means a perfect victory but it was compelling in terms of the manner in which it came about. New Zealand had some good bonus-point wins against Argentina that ultimately proved the difference but they have failed to approach anywhere near that Eden Park performance, just as they failed to get anywhere near the Ellis Park heights the previous year.
That doesn’t stop people from clamouring for those peaks to be climbed again and again. ‘If we did it once we can do it again’ is the mentality. If only life were that simple.
Think of all the possible combinations that go into a commanding performance and think how difficult it is to reproduce all those factors again.
You have to be more realistic in setting the goals for what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. You can’t expect to always perform at your best and you should always strive to avoid repeating your worst.
You need to find that happy middle ground where the positives outweigh the negatives. The balance is constantly being assessed and teams are always seeking improvement. Yet the good teams tend to have a linear line of progression both in their lows and their highs.
The more erratic your form, the less you know where your optimum levels are that you can consistently achieve. Knowing your limits as well as your realistically obtainable strengths is a powerful thing.
Being fooled into thinking you are capable of reaching well beyond your previously thought limits is fraught with danger and inevitably leads to bitter disappointment.
Every side has potential to improve substantially. Finding that improvement on the field is indeed possible, but maintaining and consolidating those gains is nowhere near as easy.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
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