It's all in the head.

H5N1 has nothing on it!

I've just been thinking about the mental approach of a game like rugby. I'm trying to digest the difference in attitude to the game that I experience here and at home. I've experienced both sides of the coin, playing with a massively successful team like MAD3 a few years ago and what I'll diplomatically refer to as a "less successful" team in the Tuam seconds.

Playing rugby at home was always a good laugh, we had some good players and a lot of people knew what they were doing. Pound for pound, I would count the Tuam players I encountered as superior rugby players to many of those I paly with here. People like Micky Moo, the Big Wynne, Daego, Seaneen and John Higgins etc. would have easily played at the highest club level here in NZ. Yet still there was always a bit missing. The team never hit the peaks and wins were sometimes hard to come by.

Here, it literally is a different world. Surveying a game from the sideline, it's pretty obvious that the team I'm involved with now would take our old team apart. They're smaller players, maybe slightly fitter but definitely less aggressive but they are surely bigger than the sum of their parts.

I can attribute it to a lot of things, a major factor being that this is their sport, the one they grew up with and grew into, but I firmly believe that they have just got into the habit of winning. Going onto a field expecting to win is a massive boost. I'm not speaking about cockiness, ego or anything here, just simple confidence in the players on the park and yourself. Tries are conceded and no one loses the head. Just knuckle down and get on with the game.

I've contended for years now that rugby is a game that is played with the head more so than with the body. The most important skill you learn in approaching a game is to think like a winner, not just in the result but in every single contest; every tackle, every scrum, lineout and tackle, everything. Without it you can be 30 points up and still vulnerable.

The reason this has been so fresh in my mind is that I've been following the fortunes of my beloved Connacht Rugby pretty closely of late. Poor ould Connacht! They were in a position whereby if they were placed higher than the lowest placed Scottish and Welsh teams, they would have qualified for the Heineken Cup next season and enjoyed the attendant benefits.

Much was made of their chances in the national media and on their websites, yet for all the talk their efforts came to nought. In the aftermath, analysis has begun on the reason for the poor performances and I have posited that the mental preparedness of the team was at fault.

For years now the sword of Damocles (cliché alert) has hung over the provinces players and their jobs have been at constant risk. Having worked in a similar environment, albeit in another industry, I can confirm that this atmosphere is poisonous for morale and self confidence. The speculation continues and another season ends with an underperforming side uncertain of their future.

Until such a time as we get some stability, we'll be doing the same analysis perennially. Given a bit of stability and structure, we could be lauding the strides made by the team. I know which I'd prefer!