They Won by A Point – The Point is They Won

 

The Rugby World Cup is over. The tournament saw a historic fourth victory for South Africa’s National Team, the Springboks over the New Zealand All Blacks in what most described as a “thriller,” where the Springboks emerged victorious over an All-Black team that had, against character, lost discipline in the initial stages and saw the captain sent off:

https://www.eurosport.com/rugby/world-cup/2023/new-zealand-v-south-africa-rugby-world-cup-final-live_sto9855397/story.shtml  

 

 As with the last time these two sides met in a Rugby World Cup Final (back in 1995), the New-Zealand All Blacks were the bookies favorites. The All Blacks looked like they were going from strength-to-strength. They lost the opening game to France but and had to put in some heavy defensive tackles against the Irish (Who were at the time the top of Rugby Football Union’s world rankings) in the quarters. By the time they reached the semi-finals, the All-Blacks looked like they were in awesome form when the steamrollered the Argentinian Pumas.

The South Africans by contrast, had a tougher time of things. They lost a match to Ireland in the group stages and only beat France in the quarter finals by a single point and England by a single point in the semi-finals.

 

 

 

 

Yet, despite only getting into the final by a single point in the semis and quarters, the Springboks did get into the finals and despite winning by a single point in the finals, they won the tournament for a historic fourth time.

There’s a life lesson to be drawn from this, which is the fact that many of us often lose perspective. We down play our defeats and blame the defeat on everyone else except ourselves and when we win, we tend to blow the win into something out of proportion.

Let’s start with the topic of defeats. Nobody likes to lose. However, in every contest in life, be it sports, business, politics or even one’s personal life, one is bound to face some form of defeat. There is a saying that goes like this – “The only way to remain undefeated is not to play the game.”

If you look at the two sportsmen who transcended their sport, namely Mohamed Ali in boxing and Pele in soccer, you will notice that they did “lose.” Pele was a magician on the field but he couldn’t save Brazil from going home after the group stages in the 1966 World Cup. However, despite the disappointment, he came back and brought the legendary Brazilian side to win the 1970 World Cup in style.

In the case of Mohamed Ali, it was even more pronounced. He “lost” the best years of his professional life because he was banned from boxing thanks to his refusal to serve in the military during the Vietnam War.

Then, if you look at his tremendous career, you’ll notice that it wasn’t a case of Ali destroying people magically in the ring. He faced people who could and did beat him. Everyone remembers his trilogy against Joe Lewis, including the “Thrilla in Manila.” Ali won two of the three and Frazir made him work for them. His famous upset victory over George Forman in the famous “Rumble in the Jungle,” was famous because he was having the “c**p” beaten out of him but somehow survived long enough to tire out the seemingly indestructible Foreman. Even in his one-sided defeat at the hands of Larry Holmes, Mohamed Ali refused to go down.

So, if you look at the “champions” in just about every sport, you’ll notice one very clear thing – all of them have learnt to handle defeat. The recently retired Roger Federer in tennis is one of the best examples. Mr. Federer went through a “dry spell” of nearly five years. After his win at Wimbledon in 2012, he didn’t win a single grand slam tournament and everyone thought that it was it for him in the list of “greats.” Then, at the age of 37 (geriatric by the standards of professional sports), he came back and won the Australian Open against his greatest rival Rafael Nadal, who happens to be five-years younger and has a leading record against Mr. Federer.

In World Rugby, New Zealand and South Africa tend to steamroller everyone else. However, coming into this tournament, they were not the obvious favourites. Ireland and France were the two top teams in World Rugby. The All-Blacks lost to France and South Africa lost to Ireland. However, instead of complaining and giving all sorts of press conferences about how something else was to blame, they went back to the locker room and used the defeat in the group stages as a lesson in what they needed to do.

Then, if you look at the fact that the South Africans only won their quarters, semis and championship match, you’ll find that most of us are likely to get obsessed with the fact that they won all the key matches by single point. What we’re unlikely to talk about is the main point – the point that they won all the key matches. At the end of the day, the key is not how many points you win by but the fact that you win.

Let’s put it this way, our wins and losses are often about getting through various stages in life. A win in life is often about getting through the various stages rather than all conquering, life-setting event.

I live in Singapore, a place where the academic system is torturous. Parents and schools go all out to make their kids the national champion in PSLE (Primary School Leavers Exams), N-Levels, O-Levels, A-Levels and degrees. Its national news when some kid tops this or that exam on a national or international level.

What everyone forgets is that each exam serves mainly to get to the next stage. A champion of O-levels is not necessarily going to be a champion at A-levels. We’re discovering that a champion at getting a degree does not necessarily make a champion getting the job done.

So, the lessons from sports are simple. Learn from defeats. Look at each defeat as an opportunity to learn. Look at each win in perspective. What is the end goal and where ensure that you do what it takes to win to get to the next stage rather than think of the individual win as a be all and end all.