We’ve heard it all before, and this year will be no different, coaches and captains trying, and often failing to disown the favourites tag.
‘We are the underdogs; we are missing X, Y, Z; it’s a tough place to go.’ These often trotted out excuses are commonplace in any Six Nations game week.
Each coach is victim of it, but Borthwick, Gatland and Townsend are the arch offenders. I will lose count of how many times Gatland and Towsend will remind of us of their ‘smaller player pools’, and that they have always ‘punched above our weight’.
Now, we all know why they’re doing it, to put media pressure and expectations on their opponents, therefore taking pressure and expectation off their team.
This isn’t a new phenomenon, but when its deployed as often as it is, surely no one is buying it anymore. What happened to owning the pressure???
Whatever next, may be arming your side with confidence will cause them to play out of their skins? But they don’t know how the players will react because they are so used to their potential being played down.
We all know it’s a ruse by coaches to play down expectations and keep their bosses off their backs when they lose. But that worked for Eddie Jones only for so long.
Anyway, what’s the worse that can happen, like I said, maybe a side would react positively to being the favourites, allowing them to play with a confident swagger, and getting the win they know they deserve.
The famous Kiwi side of 2011-2015 played every single game as favourites, and it worked out alright for them. Why are teams like Scotland, Wales and England so afraid to own the favourites tag.
Admittedly, we know that uber confidence and predicting a win in the social media age means it can backfire much harder and faster.
But if these Six Nations teams really want to be world beaters and the most feared side, they need to be able to own the pressure.
Fans, pundits and players must all see through it, let’s agree to drop the act, and own the favourites tag. You never know, you might just be proved right.
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