RUGBY - Missing factor is faith in ability under pressure

This was a game that Northland targeted to win with a four-try bonus point.
Unfortunately, once again, Northland just fell short of their goal.
While Northland crossed the Counties Manukau tryline on seven separate occasions, on five occasions they were either held up, knocked the ball on or dropped the ball in the process of trying to score a try.
Clearly, if Northland had have taken full advantage of all these opportunities, they would have won the game by a significant margin and still kept their faint hopes alive for a quarterfinal spot.
There have been consistent areas of non-performance throughout the year and these continued throughout the course of this match.
The worst example in this game was the lineout situation where Northland lost in the order of five lineouts in a row which severely inhibited their ability to put pressure on Counties Manukau.
The general rugby supporter of Northland would be asking why this continues to happen to this team.
The explanation, I suspect, revolves around the confidence of the players and the team as a whole to secure desired results.
As a team goes through a season, they will either gain or lose confidence in their ability to win games and compete against opposition teams.
As a classic example, compare the teams that I coached in 1999 and 2002.
In 1999, we gained some very good victories against top sides and by the end of the season were confident that we could compete against any side in the competition.
We therefore went into a game, especially at Okara Park, without anxiety and therefore we were able to operate without the fear of mistakes or the fear of not achieving our goals.
The players are therefore more relaxed and able to operate at peak performance.
This was not the case in 2002 where we operated at almost the complete opposite.
This team is lacking confidence as a team and certainly among a number of the individuals.
Over and above other issues surrounding professionalism in their training, the lack of confidence and therefore anxiety that would build up in the player and the team as a whole prior to and during a game would result in the higher number of errors at key times in matches.
Clearly, this Northland side had the ability to beat Counties Manukau and achieve a four-try bonus point, but unfortunately on at least three of the occasions when we crossed the line, tries were not scored.
Anxiety and nervousness took over and a lack of patience resulted in errors being made.
Confidence is not an easy thing to gain within an individual and as a team.
It comes through a number of factors based on individual preparation, team preparation and confidence of being able to compete against the opposition.
There is not an easy answer to solve a confidence issue.
However, playing more games against opposition and gaining the right result does help.