Why Premiership rugby's pre-season means deep pain and bruised egos at Bath

WEEK ONE

“The key to planning the pre-season campaign is to fast-forward to our first game on Sept 6 against Newcastle and work backwards to the date when we first came together, which was on June 17,” says Bath’s new head coach Mike Ford. “You need to look at where you want to be then and in the weeks leading up to that in terms of conditioning and game plans.”


6:00AM BST 16 Aug 2013
Gavin Mairs goes behind the scenes at Bath to find out how they prepare for the Premiership kick-off.

WEEK ONE

“The key to planning the pre-season campaign is to fast-forward to our first game on Sept 6 against Newcastle and work backwards to the date when we first came together, which was on June 17,” says Bath’s new head coach Mike Ford. “You need to look at where you want to be then and in the weeks leading up to that in terms of conditioning and game plans.”

RELATED ARTICLES
Boost for Bath ahead of new Premiership season as Francois Louw signs long-term contract
Gloucester beat defending Premiership champions Leicester 24-17 to take Rugby 7s Series crown
Dylan Hartley has learnt a hard lesson and will remain Northampton captain, says Jim Mallinder
Unlike last season, when Bath began rugby training in week one, this pre-season begins with weight training sessions.

“It is all about getting them used to training again and setting the tone for the coming weeks – and address those who might have enjoyed their weeks off more than others! Luckily we did not have too many.”

WEEK TWO

After rediscovering the pain of training, the Bath players are encouraged to be proactive to prevent injuries as more structure is put to the training.

“At the end of last season we had a lot of physio-led assessments and during the second week we put a lot of emphasis on the players becoming more aware of their bodies to maximise performance,” says Allan Ryan, the squad’s high-performance manager. “If they are tight in their hamstrings and calves, we want to them to use things like foam rolls for soft-tissue work. We also begin to prepare the players for speed work.”

WEEK THREE

Springbok flanker Francois Louw returns to the club having played for South Africa in June. He will also miss Bath’s first five Premiership games because of international commitments during the Rugby Championship.

Yet amid the disruption he says the pre-season campaign is important. “Allan’s vision is to build a strong fundamental base of strength and fitness while Mike slowly broadens the rugby skill levels so there is a rugby element to it which helps mentally as well as physically,” Louw says. “The guys had already put in a lot of effort. I had a decent break after the Tests in June so I actually felt great.”

WEEK FOUR

This is the first time Bath’s England players return to the fold after the tour of Argentina. It is also the first time that the squad begin running, sprinting and contact work. “The lads know it is coming and some start asking questions about it and others just don’t want to know until it happens,” says Ryan. “Up to then we had just been doing rugby skills work – catch and pass stuff – but the workload intensifies and we brought in high-speed straight-line interval running.

WEEK FIVE

By this stage the rugby element of the training takes prominence over strength and conditioning work, although Bath also bring in a speed coach from London for the sprint work. Just in time for Bath’s England Under-20s contingent, who return to the squad following their successful Junior World Championship campaign.

“It is not just for the back three, if you can get lads of 125kg moving quickly they can cause a lot of damage,” says Ryan. “We want our players moving better.” Weights sessions intensify but the week tapers down ahead of a trip to Spala in Poland.

WEEK SIX

The Polish Olympic Preparation Centre is popular with rugby sides as its cryotherapy chambers speeds recovery to allow for heavy conditioning work. Yet the highlight for the Bath players was the daily ‘mini Tour de France’, which brings out the competitive spirit in the squad. “We squeezed a lot into the week to really push the boys,” says Ryan. “We got the big lads out on mountain bikes every morning trying to win the yellow jersey. It was 25 minutes out into the woods and back and we usually had a couple of crashes every time, punctures, broken pedals and bruised egos.”

WEEK SEVEN

After the beasting in Poland, which also involved rugby sessions after the gym work and conditioning, the players are given the week off to recover. This is the calm before the storm. When the players return on the following Monday, the benefits of the conditioning work are evident, but it still does not prepare them for what lies ahead.

“No matter how much quality work we do in the first six weeks, the first time the players go into full contact it is always a shock to the body, especially for the forwards,” says Ryan.

WEEK EIGHT

Preparation intensifies for Bath’s first pre-season game, against Newcastle in France the following week, which is followed by matches against Bristol and Ospreys. The emphasis turns to scrummaging, defensive sessions and team patterns.

“Every player will tell you that no matter how much effort he puts in, when he gets to the first game, he still feels like it is the worst ever,” adds Ryan. “The pre-season games are critical for preparing us for the first Premiership game. We have to manage the players carefully so that they get time to recover during these games by rotating them. The players will be stiff and sore.”

WEEK NINE

As the pre-season games begin, Ford is optimistic that the hard work of the previous weeks will bear fruit when the Premiership gets under way.

Yet for Bath, the end of the pre-season campaign represents only the first section of a season-long player management programme.

“We have planned the season already but then you have to constantly review the plan on a weekly and monthly basis because you don’t know what is around the corner in terms of injuries, winning and losing,” Ford says.

“You want to get your best team out and you have to be smart. It can be a long slog at times and you have to keep the players as fresh and mentally alert as you can. It is a challenge.”

By Gavin Mairs for The Telegraph