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Katie Borkins

A winning mentality

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I don''t know if any of you saw the South Africa vs Japan rugby match yesterday.  There''s no reason you should have done.
Japan won, but it was the manner of their victory which had me jumping up off the sofa and spilling my glass of Rioja over the rug.
Losing 32-29, in the very last seconds Japan were awarded a penalty five yards out under the posts.  A kick anybody would easily make to draw the game 32-32.  It would have been the most astonishing result in Japan''s rugby union history and one of the biggest upsets for years.
The Japanese captain declined to kick for goal.  He believed the team could break through the Springbok line and score a try to win the match.  In making this decision he took away the option of the easy draw - it was going to be win or lose.
And somehow five phases later, a Japanese back held off his opponent and sent his team-mate over the line for a try which was simply a magical sporting moment.  I was up and out of my chair - no small task with my sciatica - and hopefully if you saw it then you understand why this was such a fantastic moment.  If you haven''t seen it, YouTube it or find it somewhere and watch.  It''s magic.
Where''s the Norwich connection?, you might well ask.  
Well, it''s this.  We now have a manager who believes in going for it and although we rock up at Anfield today as underdogs, I believe we will look to try and win, or get something from the match, until the final whistle.  
Previous managers, Houghton being the obvious one, would have taken the equivalent of the Japanese kick at goal and draw yesterday, and seen it as a good result.  It would have been a good result, but it is now a great result.
There is an emotional dimension that comes with supporting a club.  I lost the ability to dream big under Houghton, ground down by negative pragmatism.  Now, we have a manager and team spirit that has me daring to dream again. What could be better than that?

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I watched it, absolutely gripping game. Brave decision to go for it, which could easily have backfired on them - which they wouldn''t have deserved after their display.

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It was amazing Bor. A truly seismic sporting shock, and with the amount of times SA were in the lead, and broke the Japanese defence, for (big underdogs) Japan to come back and keep going on and on was simply fantastic.

There are many facets to a Rugby Union game, which just made the result even more amazing.

It was a mindset, that, as you talk about, isn''t always prevalent in sport, but boy, yesterday showed what rewards you can get sometimes, no matter how big the ''dragon'' is.

You never know, Rugby union might get one or two more fans from the ''2nd sport'' thread from a couple of weeks ago?!

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Completely agree

I remember lambo making changes when we were drawing to win the game away from home.

Hughton and his "at 2-0 down you have to decide whether to go for it or settle for what you have. We tried to shut up shop"

Sir Alex last year brought back memories of the messiah and is continuing the positive approach this season. Love it

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