Robinson: Mental strength the key

19 May 2009

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Robinson: Mental strength the key

Keith Robinson is one of the few involved with the current Chiefs squad who knows what it is like to play in a Super Rugby semi-final.

The Chiefs’ lineout coach believes the current team are very different from the side of 2004, and says mental toughness is the hallmark of the 2009 squad.

Former All Blacks lock Robinson played in the 2004 team that current head coach Ian Foster also took to the semifinals, playing the Brumbies in Canberra and getting well beaten 32-17.

‘Of course I think back to that day the only semifinal I’ve been in in Super Rugby,’ Robinson told Rugbyheaven.co.nz. ‘The lessons we probably learned that day don’t really apply.

‘It’s a completely different team, it’s completely different how we’ve got here and this time we’re on our home patch.’

Robinson said he considers mental strength to be an enormous, and hugely under-rated, part of the game.

‘We’ve got a mentally tough team and a team that’s prepared to do whatever it takes to win the games. We picked players we think stand up to pressure and we’ve put more emphasis on our mental skills programme in the team and certainly had some reward for that.

‘Guys are planning a lot more now the mental side of their week and I think it’s pretty obvious in the way they’ve performed on the paddock.’


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