Paul Smith: All Blacks And Underdogs

Losing is never easy, especially when it comes with a suspicion we lost much earlier to an off-field factor - Marketing.

Was there ever a sporting journey marked by such hype and followed by such failure? Yes, the America's Cup campaigns - some successful, others not. And long before them in cricket, the macho marketing of the Big Guns - who failed to fire.

Marketing raises expectations and for our national game, the sponsors were everywhere this year - the hype even infiltrating news reports. Expectation of a win is fair enough given the All Blacks were the top ranked team. But the effect of all this attention was more than that - it conditioned us to believe in their infallibility.

So could all this had have had an influence on the team from Down Under? The team news reports told us they were almost mobbed in some cities. Was the effect to remove from the All Blacks our most potent weapon as Kiwis - the priceless motivation of being the underdog? Did we gift that to the French and so arouse the passion we saw in their play?

We were beaten in the match. Some will say the result was hardly fair or square, but it's in the record books. Was it helped there by the hubris created by marketing? We'll never know. It's just a losing thought - or is it?

Here's the New Zealand Herald's rugby writer Wynne Gray in the paper the day before the match:

'It should only be a game, but the NZRFU has made it more than that this time. They have cranked up the stakes on the team and the nation. So the weight of expectation does sit on the All Blacks tomorrow, and for the rest of the World Cup'.

Paul Smith is a journalist, author and founder of the website, www.kiwiboomers.co.nz .

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