A minute to go

All team games, or combinations of athletes in a team seem to bring into the equation chance.
There is a complexity when multiples of players compete and rely on each other to play their part
In athletics the 'relay' events rely on not just the speed of the runner but his ability to pass the baton. It's here that a turbo charged team who on paper should win the race easily come a cropper on a technicality which in some ways has nothing to do with running which after all is what the event is supposed to test.
In football a side can have 80% of the possession, continually attack the opponents goal but get caught out on a rare counter-attack and loose the game.
Watching the rugby, most games have gone with the stronger team but there have been occasions where penalties have canceled out much of the play and, although penalties indicate indiscretions by one of the teams as I have said before the game is so complex that a boarder-line interpretation of the rules can loose a match against the run of the play.
If you compete as an individual in sport its most unlikely that you will have your individual effort negated by the rules. Perhaps boxing is an exception where decisions taken outside the field of contest and depend on the scrutiny of judges or a referee can there be discontent about the outcome of the contest.
One of the features of the Rugby World Cup has been the crowd attendance and the support for the teams in general. My mind goes back to half empty stadiums in South Africa and even the Football World Cup in Brazil. The stadiums over here are well established by the fact that Britain is made up of four nations and each has its centre for a specific sport. The crowds never the less have filled each ground to the brim and this is especially pleasing given the host nation, England got kicked out at the preliminary stage.

Who would have thought the odds on Scotland holding the Aussies to a point by the 60 minute mark. The Scots hardly rated within the Home Nations were carrying the slender hopes of some sort of self respect for Northern Hemisphere Rugby. An 'interception' and Scotland pull ahead by two points with five minutes to play. The heavens have opened and the rain is pouring down. Four minutes to play, three minutes to play and now a penalty, a disputed penalty without a call to the TMO to confirm the decision, when the use of the consultation to a slow motion rerun has become a common part of the referees decision making.  With only a couple of minutes to go, the game hinging on the decision why didn't the ref' confirm it ?

Over it goes. The whistle blows, one point in it, and the Aussies scrape through !!!