Preparing for the Ultimate Challenge

Thursday October 09 2003

Key All Black: Injured lock Ali Williams

ProSport is the Number One range of sports support in the UK - helping people relieve, prevent and protect them from the risk of high-impact and potential injuries.

In the first of series of exclusive columns for ProSport, Saracens physiotherapist Nigel Roe writes about the build-up to the 2003 Rugby World Cup and how it differs from the previous World Cup tournaments - especially those in the amateur days.

The Rugby World Cup 2003 countdown is almost in its final week and it promises to be the most intense physical rugby showdown seen in the games history. For most teams, it is the end of months of meticulous planning and build-up, not to mention years of player development and selection wrangling.

Just how the rugby athletes assembled have gone about their physical and mental preparation will have varied depending on the different coaching styles, training philosophies and the reality of varying budgets. For those who can afford it, preparation for this World Cup has seen rugby reach new heights of professionalism and technical input. It continues to evolve as a real science, and has the potential to provide the winning edge for the top-flight teams so closely matched in physical make up, skill, and competitive psyche.

How different it was 16 years ago before the inaugural tournament. Rugby had yet to turn professional and beer, not Lucozade, was still the top-flight's recovery drink of choice. Fellow North Harbour ex-pat Buck Shelford related last week how preparation for the 1987 All Black's team involved a "probable versus possible" trial six weeks out, with the team assembling a mere week before the tournament.

We must remember these were amateur days and most players had to hold a job down as well as play rugby. In contrast, this years England squad got together for their first RWC camp on July 21, and have followed a very carefully planned build-up of physical conditioning, technical rugby sessions and test level game time. Most teams now follow a similar build up; with Fiji having gone the other extreme basing their players in a military camp and having played a staggering 11 build-up games in the last three months!

So just what's changed and what exactly is involved? First, lets consider fitness. Training regimes for the top flight are based on the cutting edge of strength and conditioning science. Players are still "flogged", but it is now "smart flogging" to allow optimal strength, power and speed gains, with recovery time a key element. Over training can often do more harm than good, and today's ever-expanding sports physiology knowledge base lets tertiary educated trainers tailor weight training, speed and rugby specific fitness to allow maximum physical benefits.

There are no more mindless hours of plodding for forwards, but instead they are subjected to explosive, short burst speed interval sessions working through fatigue, modelled on what they actually do in a game i.e.  getting form the deck to the next breakdown. The same principles are applied to each position. The contribution of the new age fitness guru's will be a big factor in this year's outcome.

Secondly, there are the coaching and support staff roles. You may have noticed how the entourage of "fish-heads" has multiplied dramatically in recent times! The new-look management team has technical input from specialised coaching staff backed up with high-tech video and statistical analysis to allow far more detailed individual and unit analysis of team performance and opposition sides (just be careful how you get that video footage!). There are specialist coaches for defence, set-piece and kicking.

Sports medicine professionals with rugby specific backgrounds carry out musculoskeletal screenings on all squad members to ensure that each individual is at his optimum of flexibility, strength and core stability. Old injuries are rehabilitated to better than pre-injury states where possible in one on one training. Access to high-tech investigations and top specialists allows medical teams to advise with greater accuracy on whether or not it's worth the risk of carrying a recovering injured player into the tournament (think Jean de Villiers of South Africa or New Zealand's Ali Williams).

Nutrition is carefully monitored and supplemented where necessary, and some teams will even take their own chefs (they no doubt make a good cup of tea too!) Sports psychologists are on hand to provide input and strategies for maximising performance. Everything is planned and structured to allow players to peak mentally and physically for the tournament, and to allow them to be as prepared as possible for the local environment and climate of the host country.

Let's not forget the players. This has no doubt been the most gruelling of build ups, and the self discipline and work ethic displayed by my teams England boys Richard Hill and Kyran Bracken will have been displayed universally by most individuals and most squads with the most horrible of anaerobic sessions, hours of bruising defence sessions, injury setbacks, weeks away from family, being pushed to a controlled but cruel limit physically on a daily basis, and ice baths to be endured!

However, it will all come down to just 80 or so minutes in the final. In that last 10 of pure grind, the quality of the physical and mental preparation of a team as a whole, between sides so closely matched, could be the X-factor that determines the World Cups home for the next four years. There's still an element of chance and the unpredictable thanks to the strange shape of the ball we love, but preparation is all about making sure every aspect of performance other than the bounce of the ball is nailed down. Hats off to this years RWC players turned true professional athletes, and may the best (prepared?) team win.

Click here to view a table on all RWC injuries!

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