The Rugby World Cup starts in less than 2 weeks, and coming from New Zealand, it’s inevitable that the odd rugby-related post will make it into this blog over the coming 6 weeks.
Every four years, all of New Zealand, a stadium of 4 million, watch with bated breath as their sporting pride takes the field.
The national rugby team, the All Blacks, are the most dominant professional sports team, in any sport, ever. They have an astonishing 84% winning record in the professional era.
Given this, it’s understandable that there is massive pressure for the All Blacks to perform, and win, at every World Cup.
This past weekend, the All Blacks trotted out to face Tonga in their final preparation match before the World Cup begins.
What astonished me, and what I wanted to share today, was a decision made by the coaches in the 65th minute to create what I call “Artificial Pressure”.
With 15 minutes left to go in the match, and with the game already in hand, they decided to pull a player off the field and play one man down.
Why place your team under unnecessary pressure? As the coach, you know if any player gets injured in these final 15 minutes, you’ll be destroyed by the media. Why take such a risk?
Well, there may be some method to the madness, but a bit of back story is required.
Despite winning the first ever World Cup in 1987, it took the All Blacks 24 years to win their second. In the years between these two victories, when the All Blacks failed to win rugby’s most coveted prize, they were criticised as being the best team in the world that simply choked in the do-or-die games.
The lesson here: consistently being the best in the world doesn’t matter when you can’t win the games that matter most.
The All Blacks developed a reputation as “chokers”, one which was finally relinquished in 2011 when they broke the 24 year World Cup drought.
However, there is still a fear amongst New Zealanders that the All Blacks could choke again in the high-pressure moments.
One such high-pressure moment is playing with 1 man down. In rugby, playing with 1 man down is a very plausible scenario. One high-tackle, or repeated infringement, could see a player given a yellow card, meaning they are sent off the field for 10 minutes. This can completely shift the momentum or score of the game.
In my mind, this decision to play a man down in the warm-up game against Tonga was a masterstroke by the coaches.
With so many young and new players in the team, who haven’t had a taste of the World Cup, the coaches created Artificial Pressure to help their players acclimatise to the do-or-die environment.
This decision made headlines around the rugby world, and sent a message to all other teams that the All Blacks are mentally ready for battle.
Bring on the World Cup!
Note: There is definitely a lesson in here on how we can create Artificial Pressure for ourselves when we’ve got something important on the horizon, like a presentation or negotiation.
I won’t drone on about it though, the actions of the All Blacks’ coaches provide a good blueprint to experiment with Artificial Pressure in our own lives. Namely, creating, experiencing, and thriving on the pressure before it’s real.