Taking part not the winning

Subject: Taking part not the winning.

How do you cope with waking up the morning after the evening before when your dreams have gone up in smoke. We have all been there, a girlfriend has told you to get lost, a wife to clear out, a boss to say you are no longer wanted, the death of someone you cared for, the list goes on. But how about a dream of winning the World Cup a dream which in the making you have endured hours and hours of hard physical punishment and a dedication, a dream which ruled most of everything else you did since you were young. Of course we mustn't forget it's also a highly paid job being an international rugby player these days, it gives you kudos and fame, and raises your public profile when, apart from the talent to be a good athlete your attainment in other fields  is much the same as all of us, pretty limited and certainly not the claim to celebrity such as a world famous rugby player brings.
So the desire to win the accolade of being the best has avoided you and as you troupe out across the tarmac and onto the plane to return home it must all feel pretty hollow without the cup. If on Monday or in a fortnights time the training regimen is started again to build up for another tilt at the title in four years time, one must overcome the barrier of knowing that this was perhaps your moment and that these moments don't usually come around twice.
The stoic face of Eddy Jones said it all. His tactical planning which had been perfected by the players in the match against New Zealand was disjointed from the get go by the injury to Sinclair and threw such a huge spanner in the works of ball to hand dominance. He more than the players had to watch from the sidelines, as we all did to see our team trounced in virtually every phase by a team who bulldozed their power in scrum after scrum making the vaunted, second rate. How will those prop forwards feel this morning knowing they were the instruments of the torture the team must feel today.  
Of course it's only a game but a game where the team collective is vital, more than in soccer where a showy  bit of genius from the centre forward, or in cricket a stand of one individual can win a match. In rugby it's a team game like no other and the players who performed so brilliantly a week before were found wanting in the main event.
Heavy hearts and muted praise when they return home. No champions bus ride for the adoring fans to show their thanks, rather the stoicism (for which we are past masters) of the stiff upper lip and the claim that " it's the taking part that's important, not the winning".