Wallabies boot camps

[fatprop]

Wallabies praise boot camps

November 18, 2008 - 12:49PM

The Wallabies are crediting their series of gruelling boot camps as the secret behind their newfound steel on display on the European rugby tour.

Before the Wallabies embarked on their longest and most demanding end-of-season assignment in 13 years of professional rugby, coach Robbie Deans had his charges sweat it out for a month under acclaimed trainer Pete Harding.

The Wallabies were put through session after session of conditioning-based drills and exercises designed to increase skill levels under physical and mental fatigue.

There was a lot of weight, speed and strength work plus miles and miles of running, but mostly with ball in hand to improve execution under the pressure of Test-match conditions.

The results have been there as the Wallabies put both Italy and England to the sword, doggedly winning back-to-back Test matches that were in the balance going into the final 15 minutes.

"The work they've been doing physically with Pete Harding is evident and I think they can feel that," Deans said as the Wallabies prepare to tackle France in Paris this Saturday (Sunday 7am AEDT).

"And that's a big part of it; when you line up on the start line, you've got to have a sense of having a full tank to be able to go the distance."

Fullback Adam Ashley-Cooper, who swan-dived over for the match-sealing try at Twickenham last Saturday, said the pre-tour camps were "absolutely" paying dividends.

"That four weeks was some of the toughest training I've ever been involved with," Ashley-Cooper said.

"I mean, 10 sessions in four days, that was really tough.

"But we're really starting to feel the effects of it now. We're starting to play for the 80 minutes. We're out-running football teams, which is really important for us."

Barnstorming No.8 Wycliff Palu described the training as brutal.

"It was like a mini off-season," he said. "It was a pretty tough four days a week there and I think the boys got a lot out of it.

"Definitely last week against England it showed. England had most of the ball for the last 10 minutes, but we held in there and didn't allow a try.

"So I think you're starting to see the benefits."

Lock Nathan Sharpe said the conditioning camps left him feeling "terrific" - and it showed as the 72-Test stalwart turned in one of his finest performances for the Wallabies on Saturday.

"They were pretty full-on," Sharpe said.

"Because we jammed it all into four days, it was pretty much as soon as you got into camp it was go go go until you left on the Friday.

"Plenty of hard work went into it and hopefully towards the end of this tour and at the back end of games it pays a big dividend."

Sharpe definitely looks lighter and more mobile and we never stopped on Saturday.

 

[naza]

I guess we'll have to have a similar camp before we take on, and thrash, the Silverfern XV.

 

[Scarfman]

We'll get PaarlBok to run a Camp StaalGraaaaad one for us. Buck naked through the barbed wire, boys.

 

[Ash]

We'll get PaarlBok to run a Camp StaalGraaaaad one for us. Buck naked through the barbed wire, boys.

Don't forget digging the pit naked with a gun at your head. Imagine the fun to be had.

 

[Aussie D]

I'm hoping that the S14 coaches and conditioners have been filled in on the specifics of the program so that they can put it into practise at S14 level as well. Otherwise the players may be back at square-one for teh commencement of the June internationals next year.

I wonder how foreign it was to the players in this day and age to have conditioning linked to skills work.

 

[Lindommer]

Nah, it's old hat. It's all been done before, at the Crusaders.

 

[Turban]

Some of the discussion over our last two wins seem to take it all a bit far.

The results have been there as the Wallabies put both Italy and England to the sword

We hardly put anyone to the sword, we won by 10 and 14 points respectively. Italy made us look decidedly average and could have stolen the match quite easily if Cooper hadn't turned on some steps and Mortlock hadn't bumped their No.8 out of the way, and England played so badly and turned the ball over so often that we should have won by 20+. The team who beat us by 4 points in our last match in the SH would have thrashed these two teams that we have struggled to get past.

I'm still very apprehensive about our progression this year. The good news is we are winning on the road, which is the first step i guess. The second step would be to do it playing some good rugby rather than the dross we've dished up two weeks in a row now.

 

[Aussie D]

Some of the discussion over our last two wins seem to take it all a bit far.

The results have been there as the Wallabies put both Italy and England to the sword

We hardly put anyone to the sword, we won by 10 and 14 points respectively. Italy made us look decidedly average and could have stolen the match quite easily if Cooper hadn't turned on some steps and Mortlock hadn't bumped their No.8 out of the way, and England played so badly and turned the ball over so often that we should have won by 20+. The team who beat us by 4 points in our last match in the SH would have thrashed these two teams that we have struggled to get past.

I'm still very apprehensive about our progression this year. The good news is we are winning on the road, which is the first step i guess. The second step would be to do it playing some good rugby rather than the dross we've dished up two weeks in a row now.

Turbs, agree with your point but we have improved a lot in the last 6 months. Twelve months ago we lost a similar game against England, yet on the weekend we won going away (though I would have liked to see the Wallabies try to ramp it up in the last 10 rather than going into their shell happy to have won the match).

 

[Turban]

But did we win because we played better or because England were spectacularly bad? It's a very blurred line IMO.

I guess I just can't shake the memory of the drubbing we got in South Africa this year despite the fact that I was at a bucks party and was absolutely shitfaced, I still can't shake the memory.

 

[fatprop]

But did we win because we played better or because England were spectacularly bad? It's a very blurred line IMO.

I guess I just can't shake the memory of the drubbing we got in South Africa this year despite the fact that I was at a bucks party and was absolutely shitfaced, I still can't shake the memory.

A bit of both, but in the last 10 mins of the game we just bashed them and that comes down to fitness, composure and passion

 

[Pfitzy]

And we had their scrum on toast all game - this above all else is the important bit to our progress. The backs we can heal over time, but we've proven at this point that we have personnel capable of scrumming well, and have done that all year despite some preconceptions that allowed the All Blacks in particular to squeeze penalties or short-arms out of our reputation.

 

[Cutter]

I agree with the thrust of your point Turban. However, I think world rugby is relatively weak at the moment and as such although Australia arent all time great, they dont need to be to be amongst the best. The areas we have improved in are the areas which were identified as needing improvement at the end of EJs reign and, also, after Marseilles. The areas we have regressed in this season (lineout and back play) are areas that were great at the end of EJs reign. Hopefully by 2011 we will have the last two back (though the English didnt trouble us in the lineout).