Boks must focus on the psychology of winning

South African businessperson and motivational speaker Sashin Govender once said: “Success in life comes down to a mindset change – your biggest asset, which you have to take control of. The focus should be on the psychology of winning, instead of concentrating on potential failures.”

In his masterclass on how to emerge victorious, he told of how business and sporting leaders were driven by 80% psychology and 20% mechanics, in becoming successful.

With our minds being on a Springbok victory when they play England in the Rugby World Cup (RWC) on Saturday – certainly one of the toughest encounters captain Siya Kolisi and coach Rassie Erasmus will face – the team should focus on the psychology of winning, to bring the Webb Ellis Cup back to SA.

Their triumph will not just rest on tactics: running and kicking rugby or making more use of the forwards than the backline. It will all depend the Bok team’s frame of mind.

What the players are told in the dressing room before running onto the pitch, will be key.

World Cup finals are closely fought battles, with no fuss made about the points margin.

I am reminded of our historic World Cup victory at the packed Ellis Park against the strong All Blacks side – coached by the great Laurie Mains, who, in disbelief at his side’s 15- 12 loss, had to swallow his pride to shake hands with the indomitable Bok coach Kitch Christie.

That nail-biting victory went something like this: the points were scored by one player from each team, with Andrew Mehrtens scoring all 12 of the All Blacks’ points – three penalties and one drop goal. Joel Stransky tallied all 15 points – three penalties and two drop goals – for the Springboks. This included his dramatic drop goal in extra time, which sealed the victory.

For the Boks, it was a three-point win over an All Blacks side which featured the feared Sean Fitzpatrick, Zinzan Brooke, Craig Dowd, Blair Larsen, Ian Jones, Mehrtens and, of course, Jonah Lomu.

Christie’s warriors included the likes of captain Francois Pienaar, Kobus Wiese, Chester Williams, James Small, Rudolph Straeuli, Mark Andrews, Joost van der Westhuizen and Os du Randt.

Having been part of that crowd that sang Shosholoza, the mood was electric and at the end we all felt the pride of being South Africans – dressed up in the green and gold colours of the winning 1995 world champions.

Looking back at that win, the 80% psychology and 20% mechanics Govender took me through seems to have done the trick.

Dressed in the number six Bok jersey, former president Nelson Mandela walked into the dressing room before the game started for an inspiring team talk with the players – something Christie’s men needed before going to war with New Zealand.

For Erasmus, Kolisi and the team – Steven Kitshoff, Tendai Mtawarira, Schalk Brits, Malcolm Marx, Bongi Mbonambi, Vincent Koch, Frans Malherbe, Trevor Nyakane, Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager, Franco Mostert, RG Snyman, Francois Louw, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Duane Vermeulen – rest assured that we are all behind you.

For the team and the nation, it has now all come down to the wire.

We no longer have a Mandela in our midst and perhaps the best that President Cyril Ramaphosa can do is to repeat Madiba’s historic walk into the Bok’s dressing room and instil the much-needed inspiration.

For South Africans, putting on the Bok jersey on Saturday will go a long way to – once again – unite the nation.

Brian Sokutu.

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