Before Saturday’s Rugby World Cup Final between England and South Africa, the English media seemed convinced of an England victory, following their win over New Zealand the previous weekend.
I was lucky enough to be in the stadium in Yokahama for that semi-final game and it really was an impressive performance. Afterwards, the world’s media eulogised about the players and most presumed an England victory in the final.
A week later and all those journalists look pretty silly.
England had peaked too soon and were soundly beaten by South Africa. In truth, it wasn’t even much of a contest for the majority of the game. As one hack put it, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong for the English. They had won a battle, only to go on and lose the war.
For business owners, this story provides a great example of how things can quickly go badly wrong, even if everyone around you is telling you you’re unbeatable.
It also proves that the old sports adage that, “You’re only as good as your last game,” is wrong.
In reality, you’re only as good as your next one.
Copyright, Hamish Mackenzie 2019
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