England’s historical 3-0 whitewash series win down- under, proves that the great coaches do not buy consolation – Eddie Jones taking his charges to the No.2 world rugby ranking in less than six months at the helm English rugby.

 

England coming off a long season and long tour could easily have folded and allowed Australia to bounce back in Sydney, after having already wrapped up the historical away series win in Melbourne.

But, a hard lined Eddie Jones was having nothing of that.

That’s because Eddie Jones believes consolation breed weakness.

When you have had a couple of wins , praise can make you weak .If you become weak once , you can become weak twice , and to be a champion team you can’t be like that – Eddie Jones

Jones put the ball right back in the English scrum by saying:

It comes down to mental strength and desire to be part of this England team .If they allow themselves to become weak through praise ,or allow themselves to think what people are saying is true , they won’t be in the team .

Of course, there is also the flip side of consolation, which the great coaches sometimes choose to exploit .

Why?

To destroy complacency amongst their own ranks, and to breed false confidence amongst rival teams.

This often becomes more evident in the run up to major tournaments.

 

All Black’s coach, Steve Hansen certainly did not want to arrive at the RWC 2015, with a record unbeaten run.

He planned it just right.

 

 

Great coaches know that no matter how good one’s players are –  their job is to guard the egos and fine lines of sport, as one day :

 Someone, Some team will have your number.

Consolation and Complacency – two sides to the same coin – which the great coaches play so well.

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Special Note.

Although England will not face off against the No.1 side in the world this year, they will come up against the Springboks at Twickenham on November 12 – and it’s the English who have not beaten the Boks in the last ten years.

It’s definitely something Eddie Jones will be ruthlessly targeting after his deserved summer break.

The Boks will need to close all the loop holes which Eddie Jones knows , if they want to keep their impressive record versus England alive .

In between The Rugby Championship awaits.

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Rob Opie is a Brand Strategist, Inspirational Speaker, Author and Performance Coach to Business Executives, Corporate teams, Organizational teams, Sports teams and Individuals.

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• Rob’s latest book: The Game Changers: Good to Great to Greater is available FREE to readers as an instant digital download on his site : www.thegameplan.co.za

 

‘Sometimes we can learn from the most unlikely of sources’

 

Yes , the Boks can certainly bounce back , but it’s going to take a radical shift in our

Style of Play

When Eddie Jones arrived to take up the Stormers coaching role earlier this year, he marvelled at the rich talent available in South Africa – and he had something pertinent to say :

They will never be allowed to play the same style of rugby again

Rugby has moved on.

And Eddie Jones has also moved on to coach England.

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A Manchester United legend of yester-year once commented, that if he had played alongside David Beckham, he would have scored ten times the goals he had managed to score in his brilliant career.

He was alluding to the split second speed, precision and accuracy of the David Beckham pass.

That extra second makes all the difference

It’s where football can teach rugby about Style, Skill and Seconds.

The statistics show that nine times out of ten, a player like Damian de Allende has been allowed to carry the ball up – and go to ground.

But, nine times out of ten, a player like Sonny Bill Williams will off- lay that very same ball in the tackle – with split second precision and accuracy – carving up the tight defensive patterns.

And that split second lost –  makes all the difference.

It allows loose forwards to catch up and close you down.

While the All Blacks choose to play a ‘’plus-one” second game, the Springboks are still  choosing to play a ‘’minus-one” second game.

The Springbok’s core game has long been built around  ”Physicality and Gees” , but they will be needing a few game-changers to bounce back to winning ways.

Our sensational Blitzbokke have shown us all about the Style, Skill and Seconds.

Let’s hope that our much loved Springboks take heed.

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Rob Opie is a Brand Strategist, Inspirational Speaker , Author and PERFORMANCE COACH  to Corporate Teams , Organizational Teams, Sports Teams and Individuals

 

• Rob’s latest book: The Game Changers: Good to Great to Greater is available FREE to readers as an instant digital download on his site : www.thegameplan.co.za

 

Great is not something one is given in life.

Great is something one must take in life

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is it about South Africans?

AB de Villiers has set the cricketing world alight with his genius.

And he remains just a humble boytjie.

But, it’s on the business front where the game is changing fast.

South African business entrepreneurs are taking it to the next level of great.

Going global.

Maybe it’s the mindset of a Pretoria born lad that has changed the thinking.

Probably South Africa’s greatest export.

Elon Musk has multiple business interests, but a common thread underlies them all :

What is going to affect human- kind the most in the foreseeable future, what is not working – and go fix it .

Elon Musk is busy shaping our future.

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And three of these globally impacting trends are:

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GAMIFY IT

South Africa’s Adrian Gore is at the forefront having turned Discovery into a GAMIFICATION machine – where real time online data is used to reward customers who display positive behaviour.

 

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SIMPLIFY IT:

Uber’s Travis Kalanick leads the race.

Not far behind is Airbnb’s Brian Chesky.

Back home , Blue Label’s Brett and Mark Levy are fast changing the way the ‘Pre- Paid ‘ game gets played globally – digital abundance driving exponential opportunity.

Jannie Mouton’s Capitec and Curro are two leading examples of exponential success on the home front.

Some refer to it as :  ‘Simplexity’ –  the  very best of simple and complex.

Some just call it  : ‘Uberfication’ – making the interface more simple – more convenient.

In America, performance coach Anthony Robbins gets paid multi- millions of dollars by corporate executives , due to his genius ability to deconstruct complexity – making companies millions more in profits.

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PERSONALISE IT:

We live in the most technologically advanced society that mankind has ever known, but we remain human emotional beings.

The human touch counts most.

It’s those small defining moments that define human great – and can make or break a brand.

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As South Africans , we can be immensely proud of our global game -changers

Think Marcus Jooste. Stephen Saad. Koos Bekker. Brian Joffe. Christo Wiese, Johan Rupert, Adrian Gore,  Stephen Koseff , Brett and Mark Levy

How about Shoprite’s Whitey Basson who’s dedicated his life to :

Growing a Nation. Feeding a Continent

The list goes on and on ………..

They’re Legends. Going Global

Innovating, Growing and Contributing greatly to our SA tax coffers – for the good of all South Africans.

Sponsoring our national sports teams. Building our national pride – our national gees.

And not too many are seen to be leaving our shores.

 

Loyal Ambassadors for Brand South Africa.

Indeed, we live in a privileged small part of the world.

A magical place to be.

 

 

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Go Great.

GET IN TOUCH.

At THE GAME PLAN we’d love to help you and your team to reach the next level of Growth, Performance and Contribution  :

robopie@thegameplan.co.za

See our Products and Services at THE GAME PLAN:

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Please share this blog in the interests of: Growing South Africans Great

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Rob Opie is a Brand Strategist, Inspirational Speaker Speaker, Author and Performance Coach to Corporate teams , Organizational teams , Sports teams and Individuals

• Rob’s latest book: The Game Changers: Good to Great to Greater is available FREE to readers as an instant digital download on his site : www.thegameplan.co.za