Rather, the American administration is now a war-hardened team, acutely aware of the potential for global disruption still present in the unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It involved becoming Oceania's representative, which was usually easy, and then a two-legged playoff against a battle-hardened team from South America or Asia, which was not.
In 2007 they were simply complacent and underplayed, having rotated their team gratuitously through the series of embarrassing mismatches that was their pool schedule, after which they were mugged by a match-hardened team.
"They are a very battle-hardened team, they have been in the Premiership, they are very savvy - especially their forwards - and that is why we are going to have to work hard to break them down.
What did he choose to sing after receiving his first cap – in a ritual where new players are expected to entertain their battle-hardened team-mates?
On one hand, the near-playoff-level intensity that each Heat game reached helped Miami become a hardened road team.
Keeping a lid on the mayhem would be a tough job for the most hardened police team.
"Distilling the Wisdom of C.E.O.'s" (April 17) described five traits that executives found important in themselves and in the people they hire: passionate curiosity, battle-hardened confidence, team smarts, a simple mind-set and fearlessness.
And he has to confront Smith's hardened veterans with a team still finding its form and hit by injuries.
On Sunday morning, Trump sharpened his attack, mentioning the special counsel by name for the first time in a tweet: "Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans?
