Preparation reaching a new peak

ON RUGBY:Increasingly sophisticated training methods are common now across all elite modern sports, including rugby, writes BOB CASEY

A CONVERSATION with a close friend David Quinlan, or the former Leinster, Northampton and Ireland centre to give him his full title, alighted on the cross-pollination in modern professional sport. Dave bumped into a guy he knew from his days at Northampton who is now chief executive officer with the top Australian rugby league club, Melbourne Storm. The latter have won two Australian NRL titles in the last four years.

The latter is currently on a fact – finding mission in Europe with Melbourne Storm’s celebrated coach Craig Bellamy – no relation to the soccer player with Manchester City – and they were examining in detail the manner in which top European soccer clubs prepare their players in terms of fitness, diet, strength and conditioning as well as various neurological tests to exact the maximum from each individual.

This took them to Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Ajax, AC Milan and, in rugby terms, the Leicester Tigers where the Australians were given carte blanche to peek behind the curtain of preparation.

While obviously it’s impossible to train someone in exactly the same way in terms of playing soccer, rugby union or rugby league, there are various aspects that can be cherry-picked from one code and applied to another.

Bellamy was particularly taken by the emphasis on skill at Ajax. It wasn’t that they neglected physical development in their academies but the priority amongst the young and very young players was to work on a skill-set that would both sustain them and make them stand out as they progressed physically. Their attitude was that the body could be sorted out later.

The Australian was also very impressed on a visit to AC Milan’s training base in the mountains. The players stay in chalets and it had a laboratory that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a James Bond film.

In one area there was a massive central server that housed all the data pertaining to every match the team played, every training session and all the relevant personal data from eyesight and hearing tests to blood samples, reaction times and hundreds of other minute details that go into preparing an individual for a team sport.

The server also housed information on upcoming opponents going back over several seasons both in terms of patterns of play and also breaking down individual tics, strengths and weaknesses. Bellamy was also impressed with the methods at the Leicester Tigers.

When you consider that he is an outstanding coach at one of the most successful teams in Australian rugby league and is still driven to travel the world to improve on a personal level and in terms of preparing his team, it underlines a staggering commitment.

In fairness, the Ireland set-up is hugely professional and very thorough in monitoring the individual. Every morning in camp we come down for breakfast and hand, Ruth, the nutritionist, a container with a urine sample taken that morning. It will be evaluated to determine whether a player is properly hydrated.

We are weighed every day before breakfast and also must fill in a form that determines how we are feeling mentally and physically: whether there is muscle fatigue, or maybe a player might be a little off-kilter in terms of being tired mentally.

The Ireland management team is kept abreast of every individual’s needs and training is tailored accordingly. There is an appreciation that there is no point in flogging tired players.

What is readily apparent is that no two players are the same, biomechanically or mentally and that training has to cater for the individual – away from team drills and dynamics – to achieve the maximum results. It’s not just about body fats and diets. These are just indicators. There is a great deal more depth to the analysis.

At London Irish there is a trainer to work with every three players in the gym. He monitors their progress. There is also the whole injury-prevention aspect of going into such detail in terms of the individual. Players are susceptible to different injuries based on muscle tone and skeletal structure. There is a statistic in the Guinness Premiership that at any one time a quarter of the squad will be injured or carrying injuries.

Prevention is much better than trying to rehabilitate and that’s why clubs spend so time and energy ensuring that programmes cater for the individual. Some individuals will be susceptible to ankle problems, others knee injuries, while a groin issue may surface regularly with another player. Identifying these weaknesses and preparing a programme, specifically tailored for them makes perfect sense.

It would be a generalisation to suggest there is a demarcation line between the older and the younger members of a squad but it would be more common to see some of the fledgling professionals risk overtraining. These kids stay on the pitch for hours after a session and this can be counterproductive, especially in flogging tired muscles.

The older guys are more likely to work on skills over a short, intensive period and then head for the showers, experience teaching them that properly focused quality beats quantity.

Speaking of quality, I was disappointed Brian O’Driscoll didn’t win the IRB Player of the Year: it’ll be an absolute travesty if he doesn’t before his career ends. That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate what a superb player Richie McCaw is – he is awesome – but he should have won it last year.

I was back in Dublin last week only to be brutally assaulted verbally by some friends who started calling me ‘Ricky Receder’ in reference to a hairline that’s heading north. I went straight to the barbers for a good shearing as a result and it hasn’t really improved matters. In fact when I returned to London Irish the boys were even more outspoken.

I never thought I’d see the day that I’d welcome wearing a scrum cap to get away from the abuse, especially as the headgear squashes my face and makes me look like a pug dog.

Saturday was frustrating as we missed a chance to go top of the Premiership by being held to a 16-16 draw by Worcester Warriors. We can now park the league and concentrate on the Heineken Cup and successive matches against Brive. The nature of our pool suggests we’ll have to win both games.