Following the showcase New Zealand rugby league teams is a very frustrating experience. The Warriors season was once again a roller coaster ride. Now the national team is testing the faith of the fans. Has the gap between New Zealand and Australia narrowed in the last thirty years? Has the advent of New Zealanders playing in the NRL Australian competition done anything to make the Kiwis more competetive? Seemingly not. Their win/loss ratio in tests against the traditional foe hasn't improved since the 1970's. Why is that? I wonder whether the sheer emotion they poured into the rendition of the haka got them too pumped up and supercharged. On paper, this was a decidedly understrength Australian team. It doesn't seem to matter to them though. They seem to know exactly what to do, and when to do it. Their mental game is consistently better than ours. Why is that? I guess it must be cultural. It doesn't say much about New Zealand's sporting psych.