Zen and the Art of Peaking
So everyone is surprised that the Irish rugby team are not playing well in the World Cup. My 2 cents on the matter are that it is a matter of “peaking”.
To those of a non-sports background “peaking” is short hand for reaching a physical, emotional or psychological high of the year or indeed of a lifetime. In athletics, peaking is a simple matter - you run your fastest time at the biggest meet. In rugby the measurement of performance is quite complex, with games judged on accuracy, speed, and above all cohesive teamwork. You can be running fast and carrying the ball well but that means nothing if you can’t pass, can’t kick and can’t score.
So the question is why is the “best prepared Irish team ever” playing so badly? The answer is that while they are probably the strongest Irish team in the gym (if perhaps not the fastest), they are shy game time and in rugby team work matters most.
I have often been critical of the preparation of Irish teams but the rugby guys train harder than most so it’s sad to see them not getting rewarded for their labour. However, the logic behind their preseason training was just plain nuts.
Lets examine the preseason preparation
4 weeks rest to recover from the long season - no problems here, that was a good idea.
The trips to Spala, focus on weight training….not so smart.
I’m going to lean on my experience as an athlete to explain why it doesn’t make sense. Most good runners tend to peak late in the season around 75-90% of the way through. To peak, we generally drop our training load, drop our weights and focus on the task in hand - running races.
In rugby, do teams peak early in the season or late in season? My uneducated guess would be late in the season. At this stage in the season, fitness training and weight training are curtailed and teams are playing games, recovering and playing again. They are not lifting pbs, they are not taking trips to Spala and they are not pushing themselves to the limit. They are keeping it simple: focusing on skill and not trying to alter their physiques.
Contrast that to the preparation of the Irish players, all trying to make phsyical gains before the world cup. To me this is the sporting equivalent of cramming for an exam. Answer this - would the 6 weeks of training been better spent on games and skill training or trying to get a 3-5% strength increase in the gym. One glance at the games against Namibia or Georgia and that answer is apparent.
So we got it wrong, or more specifically the coaches got it wrong. It takes balls for a strength coach to say that the team is better off playing matches and the chances of that happening are slim. Each coach has to defend their own position to stay in a job, but who is responsible for the overall conditioning - who is Ireland’s fitness guru. In the end it is most likely Eddie O’Sullivan’s job to decide on the preparation strategy. Does he have the necessary experience for the task?
So ultimately my plan would have been to ditch the conditioning almost completely. This would have been a big trade-off and the players would not be in as good a shape come March or even May next year. Success is about trade-offs and tough decisions. Ah well, at least we should be ready to go for the 6 nations next year!
Posted 24.09.07