As humans we are so fond of the path of least resistance that in sport you sometimes aim to break the opposition’s spirit.
I’m not condoning bullying but an opponent who believes they can still win is a very different beast than a competitor who has written off this game as a loss.
Therefore teams might target the first ten minutes of the second half to score as many points as possible to make the last ten minutes a nice comfortable arm chair ride against an opponent who has given up.
Thomas Duggan 