Lions, says sports psychologist

shift ahead of where you are and you get more concerned about how this could turn out and the consequences of that. Basically, the mind and the body get out of alignment and anxiety creeps in. Anxiety is the feeling you have when your head is in one space and your body is in another.

“When you anticipate things often you anticipate them in a catastrophising way. So as soon as you start projecting ahead in time and worrying about how things will turn out then anxiety creeps in.

“As soon as that happens, your body tenses up, your mind tenses up, your decision-making goes awry and your muscles are tense so you don’t use all those fine motor movements that should bring about the skills.”

In a nutshell, you drop the ball. Oh, and you really do struggle to breathe.

“If you think about choking it means cutting off the air supply and often that is what happens — you are so tense you are not even in that moment with your body and mind working together enough to breathe properly.”

In his book Hermansson predicted the All Blacks would again feel the mental squeeze in 2011, but suggested their mental resolve would be reinforced by the home crowd, increasing their chances of conquering their demons and their opposition.

That levelling factor won’t exist in Sydney. But the fact that many people expect them to trip at the final hurdle might well work in their favour.

“When we are underdogs we can beat anybody,” Hermansson says. “As soon as you start to make us favourites we shift our mindset to what it will mean if we don’t get a result and we then struggle. I think that’s part of our natural character.”

It’s a feature of our national psyche that even the mighty All Blacks struggle to shake.