Lee Stensness: A little soul searching is called for

So when a team does get on a bad run how can they get out of it? There is no secret formula. However, there are two main schools of thought on how to halt the downhill slide, the old school and the new school.

In the old school, amateur days the tried and trusted method of rectifying a loss was for the coaches to give the players a good old-fashioned flogging at training, otherwise known as a gut buster. As punishment for losing, the players would simply be run into the ground via a series of mindless, physically exhausting exercises.

I find it strange the number of fond memories I have of those gut-busting sessions but they did seem to draw the team closer and help with forging a collective spirit. Perhaps that was the aim after all, because when I was playing for Manawatu in the early 90s, we seemed to have them win or lose.

In the new school, the gut buster has been replaced by the soul searcher. Soul searching may also be known as an honesty session. This involves the entire team and management in an open forum where all relevant issues are freely discussed. Everyone gets to air their views on what needs to be done or changed and even the most inexperienced players get a turn. They differ from a normal match review session in that anything can be reviewed and questioned, from tactics and training length to who carries the gear to and from the bus. These types of sessions are enormously beneficial and can often turn a season around.

The most pivotal and effective such session I have been involved in came during the Super 12 in 1996. We, the Auckland Blues, were in South Africa and had lost badly to Transvaal, now the Cats, who weren't very good. We faced a match against Natal, now the Sharks, who were very good, which would determine who would get a home semifinal. If we were to lose, it would mean staying in Durban another week and playing Natal again, a prospect that thrilled no one and would almost certainly have seen us eliminated.

However, we had such a session where a lot was said and a new harder attitude was formed. It had the desired effect because the team's performance lifted and we won the match, which was the springboard to the Blues winning the first Super 12.

The key with honesty sessions is not to take anything personally as there can be a lot of criticism being thrown around but that is the way a professional, mature team should operate anyway. It's a shame that often things have to reach crisis point before they occur. As the 1996 Blues example illustrates, a positive change in attitude can lead to a positive change in fortunes.

For the 2005 Blues, the message is: It's not too late.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY