Does your team have a complex?

Last night I went to the Atletico Real Madrid match at the Calderon. A dreadful match (not just the result) where the entire stadium was forced to watch their team self destruct and the chilling thing was that they knew it.

It started well and the fans were in great voice when they scored an early goal. For much of the first half they dominated possession and Real Madrid had nothing much to say. Until 15 minutes from the end. A nothing goal and suddenly the fans went quiet. A few half-hearted attempts to animate the players but it was like they were saying 'Oh no, here we go again.' Real Madrid hasn't lost to Atletico in over a decade. When Atletico conceded a goal their spirits went down. They made uncharacteristic errors. They looked lethargic and mentally they were defeated. The inevitable goal for Real Madrid came and I almost went deaf from hearing the crazy guy behind me vent out his frustrations on his team's inept display.

As I was watching the match my mind inevitably drifted to rugby. It always does. I thought this has got to be a frustrating experience if the team you love has such a complex. It's one thing to see your team beaten by a better team. But it's another thing to see them beat your team mentally and take them out of the match.

I often think the greatest weapon the All Blacks have over many of their rivals is their legacy. When very few teams have beaten them (SA, Australia, England, France, Wales, The Lions) it puts a mental hold over a team. When you are in the last quarter and you are still in the game, the impact of a NZ score is far more if you haven't ever beaten them. Oh no, here we go again...

I always find it strange that some countries have better records against some teams whereas other teams often struggle against certain teams. The more they lose to that team, the easier it is to develop a complex against that team. The best way to create pressure is scoring points. NZ is not accustomed to having points scored against them. England last year humbled the ABs but they will be fired up to take revenge in autumn. Imagine if England win. Could NZ develop a complex so quickly and imagine if they met in the 2015 World Cup. Would it be possible for NZ to fall apart mentally in a tournament they have struggled to find the same consistency as they have outside it?

Over which side do you think your team has a complex?

Ireland definitely have a complex against France. If anything goes against us we become deflated and collapse, and are usually beaten by half time.

The odd thing is the Irish provinces have bullet proof confidence against French clubs and regularly beat them.

Ulster used to have a complex regarding Leinster where we just never looked like we believed we could beat them, but we've beaten them twice in two games this season so looks like we're getting over it.

We also used to have a massive complex about winning away in France and England in Europe but wins over Bath, Northampton and Castres seem to have blown that away too.

Connacht have a bit of a complex against us I think, they haven't won at Ravenhill in well over sixty years.

Blues seem to blow it against the Sclarlets a lot. :/

A couple of 6N's ago I stumbled upon the statistic that until recently Scotland v France was roughly 50/50 in terms of wins. Recently it was pointed out that New Zealand is roughly 52/48 to the kiwis.
Yet Scotland have NEVER managed to beat the All Blacks.
If that isn't a massive inferiority complex I don't know what is, as many a woman has said upon seeing Trump Towers.

Complexes are a mix of lack of faith in yourself and also a genuine lack of ability keeping the lack of faith company.

Generally, you have to fight harder to give yourself a fighting chance against the team you have a psychological issue with... sustaining that effort needs ability to keep it going. So it's not necessarily the psychology that always turns hope into another defeat. It's more often that the physical effort simply drains towards the end.

There is also the phenomenon that the team with the psychological advantage always knows they have it; and therefore in order to sustain it, they also notch up their performances to kill off any developing self-regard in the opposition. I think France know they have a thing over Ireland but they put the effort into sustaining it by upping their game when they meet us too. No side wants to lose a useful psychological advantage.

Leinster have a lovely new complex in what used to be the Philips building beside UCD.

Scarlets have a welsh ref complex, we seem to struggle more when they are in the middle.

Our major fault is we do far better when we are not expected to do well, but always faulter when we are meant to be in with a shout.

We have a complex in one competition. Just listen to the crowd in the 2011 final. France, Aussie and SA know they can knock us over in that comp and the fact that we are merely another team in that comp and that our legacy means nothing (well our legacy in this comp is a hindrance) messes with our heads. I know that if we man sausage up 2015 the mind games will continue which is strange as if we had a three test series with the Boks in SA I'd feel confident and doubt we'd have a complex there any more despite taking so long to knock them over there.

Quins have that mentality at times, especially against Sarries. The boys often look beaten before the first points are scored

I think Disney it's not so much a RWC thing but a situation in which we find ourselves in games with a strangling defence and we aren't able to score points freely. We often have a problem to score points other than through a try. If we can't breach the line we don't look good working ourselves into a position to score another way.

I agree with you in that Carter isn't the best dropgoal exponent in the world (toss up between Wilko, O'Gara and the two Steyns for me), and that the ABs see playing for 3 as maybe conceding defeat. They need to remember on occasion that playing for points in any way is positive. It's just a lot more fun to win games using the rest of their arsenal. Plus it implies that you're waiting for another side to infringe. We get most of our penalties I reckon from breaking and then having the opposition slow it down or kill it.

As for finding ourselves in strangling defences, well I think all teams struggle with that. SA's rush defence is the one that has caused us the most problems in the past, and the French obviously put us under pressure when they're in that mindset where they just don't miss tackles. But NZ have more ways to hurt you than any other team-it's just that there's no special recipe to beat them. Control the gainline and you generally win. It just so happens that teams have done that against NZ in World Cups quite often (which brings about the C word) and that works to their advantage as there's the possiblity that the NZ players will start thinking of that WC hoodoo again instead of what they have to do to win.

I often think that the Dragons have a complex towards winning a game. Most fans and media have spent the last decade writing them off and handing them the 'plucky losers' tag that this is now an embedded mindset. How many times have I seen the dragons build a lead by half time and almost looked surprised to be winning. I can count on one hand the amount of times we have put a team to the sword over the last 10 years, it's almost not acceptable for us to win. A win for us is usually highly celebrated, perfect example was our recent victory over munster's 3rds!

Scotland have a complex against Wales.

Wales have a complex against Samoa.

The Ospreys have a complex against Glasgow.

The Scarlets have a complex against the Ospreys.

I feel England have a complex against Ireland...and Wales...and South Africa...and Australia...and New Zealand...and Scotland (in Scotland).