All Blacks centre Jack Goodhue is smashed in a tackle by England's Elliot Daly and Tom Curry during the Rugby World Cup semifinal match at International Stadium Yokohama, Japan. Rugby World Cup.
All Blacks centre Jack Goodhue is smashed in a tackle by England's Elliot Daly and Tom Curry during the Rugby World Cup semifinal match at International Stadium Yokohama, Japan. Rugby World Cup.
So here we are again, the All Blacks are mortals after all.
Deep down I kind of saw this coming after a couple of hiccups and average performances earlier in the season and, if there was one team to tip the applecart, it was always going to be England.
Whilethe over-the-top English press salivate over what was a great performance, even evoking inappropriate adjectives such as praise of childhood bullying, it was interesting our local press trying to evoke the national mourning of 1999 and 2007.
In the press the maxim usually is "if it bleeds it leads", but in New Zealand it is more like "All Blacks lose we must be depressed". Fortunately it appears that we have moved on from that – there was no "Suzy", Wayne Barnes or even gameplan to blame as a better team won on the day.
And if there is less time spent on bloodletting and more time spent on how we can improve, the sooner the team will be back at the top where it has been for so long.
And so it is with setbacks in activities such as business, there is always recognised disappointment but the following truism holds – it's how you get back up after a fall that determines your overall success.
Russell Bell
If you look at the English rugby team, they were an absolute embarrassment four years ago (in their home tournament), not even emerging from the group stage.
Now they are world-beaters. How did this come to pass? A lot of hard work over the past four years obviously, but much like a competitor in the market emerging strong and taking market share, they regrouped after the obvious setback and set about determining a strategy for success in 2019.
Having a plan and then building a team around it sounds simple as a concept, but the execution is crucial – so they drafted in leadership in the form of Eddie Jones who, as coach of Japan, had been architect of the Rugby World Cup's greatest ever upset (Japan's "Brighton miracle" victory over the Springboks). From there the right players and the style of playing were determined – primarily to combat the success of the southern hemisphere teams.
The thing to recognise here is that where England is today is a direct result of four years of hard work – involving ups and downs but, at the perfect time, they delivered the perfect game. They also appeared to have specialists in each position – something the ABs didn't (wherefore art thou Sam Cane and Ben Smith?).
Were the All Blacks complacent? I don't think so. However, they really hadn't had a challenge like the one which was put in front of them on Saturday night and, without that frame of reference, they didn't have many answers (in fact a lucky try saved them from a whitewash).
Over the years, I have written a lot here linking the journeys of sports teams to business.
Aside of it being an area of interest, there are so many parallels that can be applied to the business setting.
Here are some – learn from setbacks, use them as fuel for regrouping and moving forward, have a strategy, get the right leadership, get your team together and have them doing the things that they are good at and play your game rather than copy others.
So, this weekend it will be fun to be an interested neutral. England by 14.
