A player who cannot control his temper on the field of play will never become a great player. Occasionally out-bursts of anger can perhaps happen to anyone, but other wise I’m convinced that there is little to gain from such out-bursts.

One great example of a player who learned to control and his temper and become No. 1 in the world was tennis star Bjorn Borg.

Bjorn Borg was dominant in world tennis from the early 1970’s to his retirement in 1983 aged 26. Throughout that time he was consistently excellent. There were very few off days for Borg.

His personality was consistent too, rarely did he question a call or show emotion, and his game was always under control.

But, there was a time, at the age of 12, when Borg was known as the ‘bad boy’ of Swedish tennis. He would throw his racket and would hit the ball hard at the fence over calls he questioned. Because of his actions the Swedish Tennis Association suspended him for six months.

That experience embarrassed Borg and made him examine what actually could he control. He soon realized that he if fact was in control of every thing, he knew if he prepared well both physically and mentally then he would have a great chance of winning because of his talent. The results were obvious to anyone who saw him play.

If opponents cheated or he got a terrible call he didn’t say a thing, he just focused on the next shot because that was all he could control. It was actually an advantage for him when his opponents ‘lost it’ as he knew they had no control.

So yes you need to be aggressive and play rugby with passion but at the same time you need to execute your plays as best as you can and for that you need clarity and control. Just focus on the current play and do what is needed to help your team, losing control and going away from your team’s game plan will help no one.