Innholdsfortegnelse for Jun-2018 i Rugby World

BEN RYAN THIS MONTH“If you’re always trying to play it on max and ignore how it distorts, the speaker eventually blows. The same goes with mental burnout”  SOMEONE PULLED the brake on Premiership Rugby’s management merry-go-round this season, and several directors of rugby have gone flying off. Northampton Saints got shot of Jim Mallinder first. Relegation-battling London Irish then waved goodbye to Nick Kennedy. And Harlequins decided John Kingston – who had only just signed a contract extension in January – would leave at the end of the season. But wherever you stand on these departures, a trend is emerging. Are home-grown coaches now unfashionable in some of Europe’s elite leagues? Highly-rated Hurricanes boss Chris Boyd will leave his native New Zealand to replace Mallinder. Ireland’s Declan Kidney is…

1 Argentina A knee injury has brought an end to the career of Juan Martín Hernández (below). ‘El Mago’ (The Magician) featured at fly-half, centre and full-back in 74 Tests for Argentina and was key to the Pumas’ third-place finish at France 2007 – one of his four World Cups. He played for Argentina last November but the knee problem has forced the 35-year-old to call time on his career. As for the future, he said: “If in one year I am missing rugby, I will ask if I can be useful for an Argentinian team.” 2 South Africa South Africa are relaxing their selection policy, with head coach Rassie Erasmus able to pick players based overseas who have fewer than 30 caps – providing he gives valid reasons. So…

CLEM THOMAS’S true soulmate was Peter Robbins, his English back-row adversary. Their swansong was a trip to the 1986 Hong Kong Sevens as journalists. The two men took a day out to the New Territories on mainland China, where they were bused to a model communist Chinese village. The usual trinkets for sale were of absolute zero interest, except for magnificent chains of proper gunpowder-filled Chinese crackers, typically 500 or 1,000 all connected by a single fuse. Clem and Robbins couldn’t resist. They bought a shedload and carried them back to their staging point to await the bus. The coach pulled in and they dived into the alley beside a long, squat building. Robbins, gauging the last moment they could delay the bus, finally gave the signal to Clem, who…

“I throw different-sized balls in training. It’s a good drill for hand-eye coordination and improves your passing. Sometimes you get a bit fed up of the oval ball so it’s nice to use a tennis ball or golf ball or whatever and really test your skills. Then when you do throw a rugby ball back in it seems much easier.” “I’ve spoken to Eddie Jones (re England selection). He has a few positives and negatives he wants me to work on and add to my game.” “If I could have a ticket to any sports event I’d probably choose the US Masters. Cricket and golf are the two main sports I watch. I’m okay at golf, I can get around. Quite a few of us at Wasps play.” “My partner…

“The tools are there to avoid burnout. It’s about using them” PLAYER burnout. How do you measure that? Well, you can easily measure players’ workloads in training and games from a physical aspect. GPS gives you metres run, collisions and accelerations. In fact, just turning one of those things on gives you about 100 pages of data instantly! Your heart rate can also be captured and pretty much every aspect from hydration and Vitamin D levels to blood lactate thresholds are garnered. Players are often asked how hard sessions are, their ‘Rates of Perceived Exertion’. Sleep can be monitored and calories in and out counted. You get the message: they’ve got the stats. These stats, because they are collated regularly, don’t sneak up on you. You don’t just see them…

Here are the four ways a player can be eligible to represent a country at international level under World Rugby’s Regulation 8: They were born in the country. They have a parent or grandparent who was born in the country. They have lived in the country for 36 consecutive months – this increases to 60 months in 2020. They have completed ten years of cumulative residence in the country. A player is tied to a country if they play for any of the following teams in a match against another ‘capturing team’: The senior 15-a-side national representative team. The next senior 15-a-side national representative team, eg England Saxons, Ireland Wolfhounds. The senior seven-a-side national representative team. For more info, see po.st/RugbyReg8…

HAVING STOOD by for speeches, backslaps and a final huddle, the Ealing Trailfinders players are keen to get into their dressing room. So as I approach the dispersing herd, there are a few odd looks. But hold on… spray me with the water bottles? Okay! In truth this trip to Ealing was meant to be about rugby. Well, rugby and politics. But as we scrambled around the ground it became obvious that the easiest asset to make use of here is the staff. All day, club officials, players – playing, resting or injured – and coaches make time for Rugby World. When we arrive on leafy Vallis Way hours ahead of play, we are allowed to play around with the scoreboard – we refuse to just type in ‘80085’ like…

QUICK-FIRE PROFILE Age 23 (7 July 1994) Born Macclesfield, Cheshire Position Back three Honours England U16, Ireland U20 and Sevens Brothers My middle brother, Tom, is a centre and played at the Hong Kong Tens. My youngest brother, William, has just got a scholarship to Sedbergh. He’s 12 and is very good – a scrum-half/fly-half Dad He was a boxer and lost only one fight – the one to get to the Olympics. So he was one fight from the Olympics Downtime “I’ve just got a house so I’ve been moving into that. I also have a few dogs so I walk them” Post-rugby “I want to get into property development, which my father does. It’s something I’m interested in going into” Childhood heroes “Rugby-wise Tommy Bowe was a hero…

1 With three Glasgow forwards poised to receive the ball from the ruck and only metres from the try-line, you can forgive the opposition for thinking this will be a one-dimensional attack. 2 The defence is expecting the forwards to latch onto each other and drive for the line. Not so. Scrum-half Henry Pyrgos lurks close by and as the middle of the three forwards, Matt Fagerson, receives the pass, Pyrgos moves behind to take a deft pass off the hip on a run-around. 3 Pyrgos now has a short runner, Sam Johnson, taking his timing off him. The scrum-half can conceivably hit this runner but instead passes behind him, using him as a decoy to hold the inside defence. 4 The second receiver, Adam Hastings, now gets the ball…

AS THE weather hots up, so does the race for domestic silverware. This is the time of year champions are decided and the Champions Cup qualifiers are confirmed. As the excitement reaches a crescendo, we bring you features with those aiming for glory. Can Exeter and Scarlets retain their trophies? Or will we see a different name engraved on the silverware? We’ve also been to Ealing Trailfinders (P62), an ambitious club who challenged Bristol for this season’s Greene King IPA Championship title, and bring the relegation debate into sharp focus. On top of all that, Beauden Barrett (P34) reveals how he plans to take his game to “another level” and provides a unique insight into his journey from farm life to World Rugby Player of the Year winner. We hope…

8 Namibia Matthew D McNab (above) was the leading try-scorer with four at the Africa U20 Championship. His Namibia side pipped Tunisia to the overall title thanks to a superior points difference. 9 Wales After conducting research with supporters, the WRU will trial an alcohol-free zone at the Principality Stadium for Wales’ autumn Tests against Scotland, Australia, Tonga and South Africa. 10 Japan Ex-New Zealand coach Wayne Smith is teaming up with Dan Carter again after becoming general manager at Kobe Steelers, the Japanese club the former All Blacks fly-half is joining in the summer from Racing 92.…

1 MAX LLEWELLYN  Age 19 (13 Jan 1999) Born Kingston, Surrey Region Cardiff Blues Country Wales Position Centre What sports did you play growing up? I played football and in a few golf competitions. Then I started playing rugby at the CRICC club the first year it was contact. Have you always played in midfield? My dad (former Wales lock Gareth Llewellyn) wanted me to be a centre – I think he wanted to be a centre when he was younger! He said, “You don’t want to be in the forwards!” The first game I played I was at second-row, then I was moved out to centre. What do you like about the position? There’s an element of everything to it. You have to be skilled and fit, and you…

WHEN PEOPLE ask why I did it, I find it hard to answer. It works for me on so many levels,” says Damian Browne, the ex-Ireland A lock who retired in 2015. “I could talk about the suffering and hardship, and the perspective that brings me. I could talk about the adventure of it and seeing what life was like in the middle of the Atlantic. Everything just seems simpler now. Life is simpler.” As crazy stunts go, Browne’s decision to row 3,000 miles across the Atlantic is up there with Richard Parks’s Seven Summits. Favourable weather marked his 63-day solo slog from the Canary Islands to Antigua, but that was just about the only luck he had on his side. Take his first day, when his power anchor –…

“I don’t think people appreciate the kind of job he did, and they probably never will”  IT’S HARD to know which is the more impressive when assessing Tom Youngs: his metamorphosis from Premiership centre to Test hooker, or the selfless stoicism he has shown during his wife Tiffany’s four-year battle with cancer. Both predicaments require special qualities and the Norfolk-born farmer’s son has them in spades. As a rugby player, he personifies full-blooded commitment. “He’s never shirked a responsibility,” says Tigers team-mate Dan Cole, who’s known Youngs, 31, since their teenage days in the academy. “He wants to make the first tackle, make the first carry, he wants to lead things, and he does that for 80 minutes. You know exactly what you get with Tom – 100% effort.”…

BEFORE WE get to the serious business of the Hurricanes, and the pursuit of his second Super Rugby title, and the All Blacks, and the hunt for another World Cup, Beauden Barrett – the planet’s pre-eminent rugby player – is talking about home. In his mind’s eye he’s back in the days of innocence, just a kid kicking about the rivers and farmlands between Pungarehu and Rahotu, half an hour south of New Plymouth in New Zealand’s north island. “Growing up in the country, we were faced with a lot of things,” Barrett says. “Well, not faced exactly. We chose to do a lot of things. A lot of silly things. A lot of things that we absolutely loved doing. Things that if they happened today health and safety might…

Age 25 (30 March 1993) Place of birth Perth, Australia Club Exeter Position Loosehead Height 6ft 1in Weight 17st England caps Two HE IS part of the relentless Exeter Chiefs side gunning for another Aviva Premiership title, but there is more to Alec Hepburn than scuttling around Sandy Park. Born in Australia, he took up rugby as a teenager at school in England. Here he talks through his journey across the hemispheres… I played for England U20 and had a year at London Welsh. After that it got to the point where I was a bit homesick. My family had moved back to Australia, my dad was a little worse for wear and I felt the time was right to go back. I sort of walked the plank a bit,…

AS THE final buildings of Brynamman are left behind and the Brecon Beacons open up ahead, Jeff Hassler overtakes us. The Ospreys and Canada wing has been patiently following Rugby World from the Liberty Stadium to the vast expanse of the national park, but the sight of the road winding in and out of the hills simply proves too inviting, so he hits the throttle to see how his Triumph Scrambler handles the bends. Our photographer has undoubtedly picked a winning location, one also favoured by Top Gear. It may have been a 40-minute journey but the destination receives an overwhelming thumbs-up from Hassler, so much so that when RW has finished shooting he heads off around another hairpin to see where the road will take him, banking on his…

8am – Breakfast Poached eggs, avocado and spinach on wholemeal toast as well as berry and chia seed porridge. 11am – Refuel Very Berry Smoothie – milk-based smoothie with strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, spinach and honey. 1pm – Lunch Piri-Piri chicken, sweet potato mash, greens, corn on the cob, followed by Greek yoghurt and fruit. 4.30pm – Refeed Chicken wrap with salad leaves, mixed peppers and hummus. 7pm – Dinner Teriyaki-style salmon with broad beans, sugar snap peas, courgettes and chargrilled almond flakes, followed by a dark chocolate and avocado mousse. 9pm – Recover Pineapple cottage cheese and milk.…

1 MOVE NO MUCKING about here, you sevens player. We’re throwing science at you. Your performance during an intermittent, high-intensity exercise like sevens rugby can be limited by the accumulation of hydrogen ions, says our nutritionist James Morehen. These ions reduce muscle pH – which basically means lactic acid builds up. This interferes with the metabolic process that causes muscles to contract. Taking the supplement beta-alanine is one nutritional strategy to help – taking on approximately 3-6g per day for four to eight weeks could make a difference. To ensure that the potential benefits of taking beta-alanine outweigh any possible side effects, it is important for players to practise. So if you do want to give it a go, start by trying it during training sessions, rather than turning up…

5th Last year was the 100th Army v Navy match, and the Army triumphed 29-20 – but who will come out on top in the 101st clash at Twickenham? Tickets for the Babcock Trophy match (3pm) have sold out but you can watch the action unfold live on Sky Sports. 9th  The Rugby Players’ Association will mark its 20th anniversary with an awards dinner at Battersea Evolution. Doddie Weir and Ed Jackson will jointly receive the Blyth Spirit gong while the Players’ Player of the Year award, won by Jimmy Gopperth (right) in 2017, is the top accolade. Tickets are £275pp from therpa.co.uk 11th The tenth annual Rugby 4 Heroes Festival, which raises money for Armed Forces charities, kicks off at Old Leamingtonians RFC this Friday night and runs throughout…

Last person you phoned My girlfriend. Last night I stayed in Llanelli and she has a big work week Most important person in phone My girlfriend and my parents Last person texted Stephen Jones, to ask if he wanted a coffee from the shop. Selection is coming up! Last photo you took A screenshot of this week’s schedule Favourite social network Instagram. I took a sabbatical from Twitter during the Six Nations Last app downloaded Monzo. It’s a pre-paid credit card so you can keep track of spending Last song played Billy Joel, New York State of Mind Favourite WhatsApp group My mates from school – some of the stuff cracks me up…

SEDBERGH SCHOOL were crowned U18 champions at the Rosslyn Park National Schools Sevens – while the U16 team picked up the Colts Cup. Captain Cameron Redpath ran 70m to round off Sedbergh’s 26-12 win over Cranleigh in the final. The U16s overcame Clifton 19-7 in their final. In other finals, Blundell’s beat St Peter’s York in the U18 Vase 24-20, Whitgift thumped Taunton 38-7 in the U14 Cup and Cheltenham College edged out Kirkham GS 17-12 in the U14 Plate. In the girls’ events, Exeter College saw off Ysgol Gyfun Glantaf 24-7 in the U18 Cup and Loughborough College beat Hartpury 14-7 in the AASE final. Elsewhere, hosts Paarl Boys’ HS beat Christchurch Boys’ HS 28-7 to win the first World Schools Festival. Ex-Boks coach Heyneke Meyer said: “The festival…

JONNY FORDHAM THE SUN RUGBY CORRESPONDENT Eddie Jones has snookered himself after refusing to rest his Lions in the autumn. Even if they weren’t picked for all the games, you can’t claim that having Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje in camp was giving those stars a rest. The domino effect of fatigue and weariness at the back end of 2017 leaked into the Six Nations. But with no players left that he feels able to turn to, Jones has to go fully loaded to South Africa in June if they are to regain that winning habit. He has to pick his best side. Jones’s biggest flaw is his unwavering faith in average players like Dylan Hartley, Dan Cole and James Haskell. They should have been phased out, with Jamie George…

THE EYES The difference between Barrett and any other fly-half on the planet is that while other fly-halves always look for space, he will see it. There’s a massive difference between scanning around and spotting space immediately. It’s the difference between being good and great. THE LEGS Barrett is quite simply the most devastating runner in world rugby. We’re not talking just fly-halves. He has the speed of an international winger, but it is his change of pace that makes even the most organised defence look like some sort of scrambled kaleidoscope. The slightest defensive lapse and he is through. THE BRAIN Wayne Smith once said to me I shouldn’t use ‘rugby intellect’ in my reports. He said it was about intelligence, which comes from doing the basics time and…

ELIGIBILITY. Who can play for which country. You think it would be simple but it is fiendish. And suddenly, we realise what we thought was a bold move made last year should have been way bolder and that we probably needed a thunderbolt to have any real effect. I reveal a suggested thunderbolt herein. The problem with allowing people to effectively cross what should be sealed borders to play Test rugby is that the international game is still being devalued and we are still dealing with a miasma of sharp practice and laziness. And players are being press-ganged in the manner of naval recruiters of bygone days. The original measure to curb some of this took World Rugby too much time, but they got there in the end. With several…

Age 22 (1 Nov 1995) Born Auckland, NZ Province Leinster Position Fly-half or full-back Height 6ft Weight 13st 12lb Ireland caps Ten Points 22 (11C) Instagram joeycarbery TEST RUGBY must seem easy to Joe Carbery. Only 22 and with ten caps, he still doesn’t know what it feels like to lose at this level. What’s more, he’s been centre stage for two of the most celebrated moments in Irish rugby history: in Chicago, on his Test debut, when Ireland beat New Zealand for the first time, and at Twickenham, when they secured only their third Grand Slam. Joe Schmidt describes Carbery as “a bit special”. Johnny Sexton says “Joey has all the makings of a top-class 15”, uttering the line with a barely perceptible wink. And this leads us to…

JOHN HARDIE A breakout star of the 2015 World Cup, Hardie has had a tough time. Stood down for off-field misbehaviour and set to leave Edinburgh, he still has an edge and dynamism about him. MATT SMITH Smith has danced round Glasgow’s interchangeable back row this season, but the 21-year-old Stirling product has stood out for his mobility and aggression. Scotland boss Gregor Townsend is said to be a big fan. JAMIE RITCHIE Another promising 21-year-old out of the Caledonia region, Ritchie has “thrilled” Cockerill and his Edinburgh coaches this season. He’s seen as a guiding light in the club’s new culture. LUKE CROSBIE The 20-year-old’s rise at Edinburgh has been rapid. Although still raw and not a traditional seven, Crosbie’s industry and earnestness, twinned with versatility, has tongues wagging.…

THE BLACK FERNS DEALS Retainer Between $12,500-20,000 Assembly fee $2,000 a week when in Black Ferns camp Training Players commit to ten to 14 hours per week, but priority given to ensuring they can maintain work/study Savings Top-ups from the Player Savings Scheme will be paid, NZ Rugby contributing at least $2.50 for each dollar a player saves (up to $3,750 a year) Parental policy $15,000 available to Black Ferns returning from maternity leave for childcare costs Kelly Brazier The centre has won two 15s World Cups (2010 and 2017) as well as a Sevens World Cup (2013) Portia Woodman The wing topped the points (65) and try (13) counts at the 2017 World Cup and was named Women’s Player of the Year Kendra Cocksedge The scrum-half has been playing…

“Decision-making around the breakdown is so important. Each decision has a repercussion in defence if you have one less tackler on his feet. It could be the difference between them having numbers for an overlap, or conceding through a soft tackle and offload.” “Key to a successful defence is unity, trust and communication amongst the three or four players around the tackle zone. You’re working in unison. The longer you play with people, the more instinctively you work together, whether to press up or down or move side to side. You need to stay connected and if you step out of the line, you must trust the guy inside you.” “There’s only so much a side can do with the ball if your defence is watertight. A key attribute is…

Daly’s a star I was catching up with some back reading, which included your September 2017 edition, and it was really pleasing to read the piece on Elliot Daly. England’s Six Nations campaign was dismal but when a country has a player like Daly they should not despair. England should rejoice as Daly’s whole-hearted and skilful play reminds everyone why they started to follow rugby. At its best, it’s a sport that is great and hugely enjoyable to watch. David Rimmer, Hertford Heath, Herts Rugby becoming soccer Jim Mallinder, Carl Hogg, Nick Kennedy and now John Kingston… the Aviva Premiership is haemorrhaging coaches with an abandon reminiscent of football. Kingston’s departure from Harlequins, just two years after becoming director of rugby, is particularly harsh given he achieved a top-six finish…