Mental toughness (or lack thereof) trumps ability at Rugby World Cup 2007 - Tim Goodenough
8 October 2007

This could well be the last time that the ‘best’ team doesn’t win the world cup. I say ‘best’ because New Zealand (The All Blacks) have undoubtedly been one of the form teams for many months, even years – beating all comers all over the world. This weekend’s rugby has shown that coaching, skills, fitness and form is perhaps secondary to an intelligent game plan and most importantly mental toughness. Whilst New Zealand is the best team in the world based on their recent track record, mentally they couldn’t put it together. In the post match comments, Richie McCaw speaks about loosing composure. Re-watching the game I was incredibly impressed by the skills of the All Blacks to get to 20 odd phases, under that kind of pressure – yet there was little to no creativity, and a lot of the passes were inaccurate, forcing the catcher to break his stride, upsetting the rhythm. It was clear they were a talented and skilled side, yet on the day – they were a shadow of what we know the All Blacks are capable of.

Reading articles about the All Blacks preparation, especially about Daren Shand the Manager role in the team, it was obvious how professional they were, how much attention to detail they had – in all facets, all except mental skills development. Their Sports Psychologist focus was on team spirit, unity – growing the team, however I didn’t read anywhere any details on targeted one-on-one work to develop mental skills, principle amongst them mental toughness.

This is a real challenge for Sports Psychologists, as they need buy-in from the coach to get that kind of time with the players, and how do you get buy-in from the players themselves? Also what are the core skills of mental toughness, and how do you measure them, and then develop them?

The giant strides currently happening around the world and even in South Africa on mental skills development, means that in four years time – every major team worth their salt will have prepared their players physically and mentally, it will be a contest of skills primarily and mental toughness will play a secondary role. The opposite of what we saw in the first 2 quarter finals of the World Cup.

World Sport is changing, 30 years ago Gary Player was derided for gyming to improve his golf form, and now it is commonplace. Supplements, diet, scientific training programmes and even eye skills development are all designed to give that extra 5%, however what is clear is that your ability to perform under extreme pressure is the greatest leverage point in player development – whatever the level of yours skills is, whatever your ability – it comes down to how much can you utilise your talent, when it really counts. During the first Quarter Final, Stirling Mortlock (Australia) and Jonny Wilkinson (England) both had poor days at the office in terms of kicking specifically, in a windy Marseille stadium – yet they are amongst the top kickers in the world. On the day, the occasion and pressure influenced their ability to fully use their prodigious talents and skills.

If you consider all the hours of training, preparation and honing of skills that players do, and then consider how much time is spent on mental training, development, preparation – it is clear that there is a gross imbalance, especially considering how much influence your mental skills have on your performance. Just ask Richie McCaw, or Sirtling Mortlock. For many, working on ‘mental stuff’ is strange, weird and uncomfortable, however surely it isn’t as strange, weird and uncomfortable as exiting a World Cup that you should have won at the Quarter Final Stages.