Just waiting for the Reds and Force to state the same on their web pages:
The CA Brumbies have committed to playing an expansive brand of running rugby through the Investec Super 14 in 2009.
Despite finishing fifth on the team try-scoring list in 2008 with 36 tries ? behind the Crusaders (49 tries), Chiefs (44), Blues (41) and Hurricanes (40) ? the CA Brumbies will be looking to improve on their attacking record in 2009.
CA Brumbies Head Coach and Attack Coach Andy Friend says he is subscribing his side to a ?lethal? variety of attacking rugby.
?Our goal is to play to our players? strengths, have them back their skills and allow them to play some entertaining rugby,? he said. ?The CA Brumbies have a great reputation for playing an attractive, spectator-friendly style of football and we?re giving the players a license to thrill in ?09.
?We?ve set ourselves some key goals in attack for next season ? we want to be a team that can score from anywhere on the park, we want to be physical and effective at the contest and we want to play a brand of effective football that?s attractive to watch and fun to play.
?We?ve got some of the world?s best attacking players in guys like Stirling Mortlock, Clyde Rathbone, Adam Ashley-Cooper and Mark Gerrard, and we want to give these guys a chance to back themselves and give them every opportunity to show what they?ve got.?
Friend says his side is blessed with attacking prowess from ?1? to ?15?.
?With everyone in the squad likely to be available from Week One [of the competition], we?re already ahead of where we were this time last year,? he said. ?We?ve also got guys like Christian Lealiifano and Matt To'omua who have a season of Super 14 under their belt and will play with increased confidence as a result.
?We?re very fortunate that we?ll boast a number of world-class ball players across the side in 2009. While we?re renowned for the strike power in the backs, guys like George Smith, Stephen Hoiles, Stephen Moore, Mark Chisholm and Peter Kimlin will also be causing some headaches for opposition defensive lines.?
The CA Brumbies start their 2009 Investec Super 14 season in Dunedin against the Highlanders on Friday, 13 February before returning to Canberra Stadium to front the Crusaders on Saturday, 21 February.
THE Waratahs are being trained to play a high-octane brand of rugby intended to "blow teams off the park" as the experimental laws speed up the game and increase the aerobic demands made on players.
And Waratahs utility player Daniel Halangahu yesterday revealed new coach Chris Hickey's plans for a "positive risk" approach - which allows players to follow their instincts on the paddock.
"We will be looking to play a bit more and really take a few more risks in the game," Halangahu said. "[Previous incumbent Ewen McKenzie] was a pretty safe sort of coach and we were very forward-dominated, and I think in the coming seasons we will be looking to be fitter and looking to offload a lot more.
"We will be running really hard on the field and looking to have a crack. It is positive rugby and hopefully the fans can enjoy that."
Halangahu, who will battle Kurtley Beale for the No.10 jersey, said Hickey had brought a freshness into the camp.
"Two totally different guys and different backgrounds and it is a breath of fresh air for us really, having [had] Ewen around for so long," he said. "He was a good coach but there were also certain perspectives that he had built up over time and getting a fresh perspective on things is good for the boys."
Waratahs physical performance manager Peter McDonald has studied the impact of the ELVs in their first year of use and he says two laws affect physiological demands and player output.
One is the law that allows for free kicks instead of penalties for all offences except foul play, and the other the rule that disallows the passing of ball back into the 22-metre territory followed by the kick out on the full.
These two laws have seen the demands on the aerobic power capacity of a player soar in the game. Under the old laws the games were more stop-start and the demands more anaerobic.
The effect of the two laws is that the ball is in play for longer and that there are fewer and shorter rest periods. Consequently there is an increase in workrates, fatigue, running distances, breakdowns, tackles and possibly scrums.
As a result of this research Hickey has entrusted the long-time strength-and-conditioning guru to revamp the squad's pre-season training.
"It is not just a matter of doing more ? doing that you increase your injury risk," he said. "It is more looking at how ELVs impacted things like work-rest ratio and how much time you spend running at a particular speed, on your recovery between bouts of work. But you can't conserve energy [in a game]. You want to finish with the last drop in your tank in the last minute to get you over the line, not with a quarter of a tank."
McDonald began his study by comparing data from the one-off Australian Provincial Championship that was played under the old laws in 2006, and the now-defunct Australian Rugby Championship of last year in which the ELVs were introduced. The players wore GPS units so the distances and the speed they ran could be measured.
"We found that the average running distances across all positions under the new rules was 9.96 kilometres compared to 5.6km under the old laws," McDonald said, adding that subsequent research has shown that some players cover up to 14km.
The APC and ARC comparison also showed that the average number of high-intensity efforts or sprints across all playing positions also increased from nine to 25 per game. That data helped the Waratahs plan the workload of players this year.
Then considering how Hickey wants the Waratahs to play, McDonald and Waratahs strength and conditioning coach Jason Schulman then set about calculating the average work-rest ratio of Waratahs under ELVs this year.
They then compared the data they gleaned to the work-rest ratio of the Wallabies in the first Bledisloe Cup Test in July, which the Wallabies won 34-19.
"So we have been doing a lot of our conditioning, saying: 'OK here is a benchmark they need to go to. This is where we want to be able play - at that speed [that was played in the Bledisloe Cup Test]," McDonald said. "We want to play bang, bang, bang ? quick all the time. What we are hoping to do is blow teams off the park."
