The fear of losing

Jimmy Connors said: 'I hate to lose more than I love to win.' And basketball player Bill Bradley said:. 'The taste of defeat has a richness of experience all of its own. It is a distasteful experience.'

That is why, in modern sport, in matters whether you 'won or lost' and only a bit 'how you played the game' - as football coach Vince Lombardi famously said, 'If winning isn't everything, why do they keep the score?' Ask the All Blacks or the Wallabies or Lewis Hamilton. They'll tell you why.

Ask England rugby captain Phil Vickery. 'You've got to have that fear,' he said before a crucial World Cup game. 'I've always wanted fear, whatever game I play in, whether it be for club or country. For me, it's a huge part of playing the game.'

But, he added, it was important fear didn't turn into anxiety: 'It's a very fine line. There's no point in dressing it up. We lose and we're out. How you can dress that up and not make people edgy? People are going to have to be edgy'. And edgy lots of sportsmen certainly were over an extraordinary sporting weekend.

The unbeatable All Blacks choke

The cerebral All Blacks hooker Anton Oliver said after New Zealand's loss to France: 'I have just read 'All Quiet on the Western Front' and the feeling in the [dressing room] was like no man's land, like it's described in the book. That is what it feels like - no man's land - and it's not a nice place to be.'

That's why there is so much fear of losing and that, in the final analysis, is why the All Blacks lost. Not because they were less well prepared or less skilled or less hungry. Not because of the quality of the ball, or the colour of their shirts or the referee. Not because of any unfortunate injuries or the alignment of the planets. They lost because, for them, the fear of losing turned to anxiety - whereas for the French it was the spur to winning.

To be at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday was a privilege - I don't think that I have ever attended a more nerve-tingling sporting event. After watching England's brilliant defeat of the Wallabies on television there was a tangible feeling that it might be a day for upsets.

Was it possible that the invincible All Blacks could follow their antipodean rivals out of the tournament at the quarter-final stage for the first time? Something did not seem quite right with New Zealand as they lined up - was it the silly grey shirts? Colour psychologists believe grey is a negative colour, one of evasion and non-commitment since it is neither black nor white. Well that just about sums it up. But, as I said, don't blame the shirts. To put it in the vernacular the All Blacks choked.

Lewis's fatal error

It was almost his first mistake of a stunning debut season, but when Lewis Hamilton steered his McLaren into the gravel at the entrance to the pit straight in Shanghai on Sunday maybe he too was a victim of the 'fear of losing' disorder.

Had he rationalised that even though he might not win the Grand Prix if he kept his head he could still win the world championship? Or was he so disappointed that a tyre problem might cost him the race that instead of steering with caution as he approached the pit lane, did he try to save a millisecond or two of time, overdue it and lose control?

Did the prospect of losing this one race podium blot out thought of the bigger prize? Who knows - but the brilliant Hamilton will surely have learned from the moment and his team will work with him over the next two weeks to try and help him secure the title.

But in Brazil somewhere in the back of his mind the fear of losing will be present. All other things being equal how Lewis copes with that fear will decide the championship.