The Day of the Underdog
Last Saturday at the Rugby World Cup will long be remembered as the day that people reassessed the importance of “Form” for International Rugby games. Who needs to have form or even confidence, if you can just go out and get the job done.
People often overstate the importance of confidence, nobody has it at all times. You use it when you have it and don’t worry when you don’t. England and France’s victories over Australia surprised rugby pundits the world over but I wasn’t too surprised myself. Not to sound like a knowitall, but these results were always a possibility. New Zealand had little to gain from victory, the public expectation of them is so high that they can never outperform expectation. All they can do is reaffirm their apparent god given right to rule world rugby. When the public thinks you have already won, there is no place to go but down. It’s a bit similar to billionaire offspring going into business. They can’t make mark in the business world so often turn to art, culture or sport. What are the chances of Bill Gate’s kids going into software? What have they got to gain?
So as the result of all the madness we find ourselves with 4 teams in the world cup. Three of these teams have stories to tell: France the valiant hosts coming back from defeat, England the defending champions who have endured 4 years of misery and Argentina the team nobody wants. South Africa are where we expected them to be and are as clinical a team as you would expect. Their public can smell victory, but who now is going to bet against the underdog (Argentina) biting them on the backside!
Posted 08.10.07