When England walked off the pitch on Saturday, having completely outplayed the All Blacks, you could have been forgiven for thinking they’d lost.
Sure, there was the odd smile, but it was all very muted.
“They must be knackered,” my husband said to me. But that wasn’t it.
The looks I saw on the England players’ faces were looks I knew well. They were the same looks my team-mates and I had ahead of our Olympic final three years ago.
We had just beaten New Zealand in a very physical semi-final, which was stopped at one point so that blood could be washed off the pitch. When the final whistle blew, much like the England lads did, my team exchanged glances, handshakes, smiled, then retired to the changing room.
Once there, we sat in our usual places, packed up, and got ready for the bus. Not one person mentioned the word final, or medals, or celebrated in any way, shape or form.
We didn’t congratulate each other, we merely acknowledged that we had played well and had another game to go.
Looking back, I realise just how mentally focused our coach Danny Kerry and his psychology team had us.
Getting to the Olympic final had been a dream all my life and I also knew I was guaranteed at least a silver medal.
You would think that would be a huge deal – and as for playing for a gold medal, well, the mind should boggle. But it didn’t. Nowadays, few things irk me more than when a team celebrates making a final.
That’s amateur hour. It’s like they forget their only aim should be to win the whole thing. I don’t care if it’s a pre-tournament long-shot either.
We were 12-1 to win the Olympics, but any good team will tell you that your expectations and goals are fluid and constantly upgraded during a tournament.
I left celebrating semi-final wins to the fans and, truth be told, if I saw an opponent celebrating reaching a final, I often drew strength from it.
Psychology in sport is so underappreciated, but not by Eddie Jones. Pre-game, he reminded his team that even the mighty All Blacks were human. They still drop passes, miss tackles, were far from insurmountable – and so it proved.
Post-game, his players looked equally prepared.
The key now is to stop the players becoming what sports psychologists term “overly aroused”. You have to stop them realising what they have accomplished.
You need to stop them becoming aware of the media hype or getting wrapped up in the nation’s excitement.
There is still a job to do – but I can assure you, as someone who has been there before, the England boys know they haven’t won anything... yet.
- Sam Quek is an ambassador for footie5, a weekly free-to-play football prediction game where you can win £25,000 just by predicting the scores of five matches of your choice from across the English and Scottish leagues. Download the app or play at www.footie5.com
