Olympic hero is blown away by Scotland’s gold medal standard
THE FITNESS, the speed, the allround athleticism, even the monstrous amounts of protein and carbs packed away in order to fuel those massive, muscular engines. None of that came as any great surprise. When Olympic cycling champion Callum Skinner sat in on the Scottish rugby squad’s team meetings, though, he was blown away and inspired by a philosophy guaranteed to reap rewards.
It takes a lot to impress Skinner, an elite competitor from the world of marginal gains and brutal demands.
Judging by his description of the time spent embedded with the Scots earlier this week, Gregor Townsend and his boys are clearly doing something right.
From the sharpness of the briefings, little touches like not leaving any one image up on screen for more than ten seconds, to detailed match planning that included bringing a referee in to call penalties in a training session, the experience more than matched up to Skinner’s expectations.
And the aspect of Scotland’s approach that gave this pedalpowered patriot, a keen rugby fan, most encouragement?
The culture behind the matchday performance. A confidence that they are on an unstoppable upward curve. No excuses, no ducking responsibility, no treading lightly on eggshells when truths need to be told.
Skinner (below), who won gold in the team sprint at the 2016 Games in Rio, said: ‘It’s really impressive, what Scotland have developed.
‘I’ve always been interested in how other sports work. I visited Brisbane Broncos Rugby League team when we were in Australia, I’ve spent some time with British Canoeing as well.
‘With this Scotland team, the thing that struck me is that they’re all 100 per cent behind each other — and they’ve got really good confidence.
‘They genuinely feel they’re set for bigger things. There was such a buzz and energy, a drive to win this weekend.
‘I can see them doing that and winning a few more, then heading to the World Cup in great shape.
‘What I really liked was the daily team meeting — because these are really fast and sharp.
‘At British Cycling, our meetings can be a little bit slow and drag on a bit. But Gregor and his coaches keep it quick.
‘For instance, no slide or video is up on the screen for more than ten seconds. It’s all bang bang bang. And the culture of the team is great, in that guys are quick to pull each other up if they spot a mistake. They are quite open about it.
‘That’s a great culture to have. If someone is afraid or unwilling to admit to a mistake, you can’t really develop as a team.
‘There were about 40 guys at the start of the camp, with that number to be cut down a bit as they got closer to matchday.
‘It was great to see how united everyone was, even though there were players there who knew they couldn’t be involved this weekend.
‘It’s part of the culture, this idea that they’re still helping the team to go out and win this weekend.
‘It made me think of what happened to us in Rio, when it quickly became apparent that we’d have to compromise and come up with a way of winning.
‘It wasn’t about who could do the fastest lap, it wasn’t about who got the glory. We had to work together to win as a team.
‘The Scotland guys are in that same space, all working towards going out and smashing Ireland this weekend.
‘I’ll be there to watch on Saturday, hoping to see all the tactics put into practice.’
The cycling set-up at the Manchester Velodrome was a good ten years ahead of the chasing pack for a good while.
Other nations, other sports, have been catching up of late. Given its relatively new status as a professional sport, it’s interesting to find out how rugby is viewed in the eyes of an Olympian.
‘The Scotland rugby set-up is very good,’ said Skinner. ‘Obviously the national performance centre at Oriam is a great resource, they stay in the hotel just across the road — and I was lucky enough to stay with them for a few days.
‘I got to eat with the guys, sit in on sessions, basically experience what they experienced. I got the daily plan every morning and really got to see everything.
‘I did manage to get some food, yes! Some of the guys eat just an enormous amount but, I mean, look at how big they are.
‘There wasn’t that much strength and conditioning work done, with them just coming off the Italy game. But they still work hard.
‘It’s the first time I’ve really had that much time with an elite team. Obviously there’s a team element in what we do in cycling but we’re all individual competitors, as well.
‘There were definite similarities in the daily monitoring of athletes, something we do a lot.
‘While we still probably place more emphasis on technology, they have great physios and doctors, analysts, specialists — everyone has their own area of expertise.
‘They had a referee in for one of the sessions, too, which seems like great preparation.
‘Rugby is such a complicated sport even before you throw in the number of complex plays involving the forwards and backs. I find it mind-boggling.
‘I’ve brushed up on my rugby terminology during the few days there, definitely. Although I don’t think I could give away any secrets if I tried.’
Scotland head coach Townsend is renowned for soaking up ideas for all over. Different sports, leaders in business… if he thinks your knowledge will help his team improve, he’s guaranteed to pester you for some answers.
The man who spent time picking the brains of Pep Guardiola and Roberto Martinez, then, was never going to let a valuable asset like Skinner off the premises without inviting him to give a little something back to the group.
‘On the last night I did a Q&A, which was fun,’ admitted the track star, currently taking a break from his sport.
‘I think a lot of them were genuinely interested in finding out about a different sport, so hopefully they found it fruitful.
‘I spent a massive amount of my time speaking to the coaches and staff, mainly.
‘Gregor is obviously someone who has spent time with some fairly high-profile coaches in other sports.
‘And I think he just feels like an open-door policy — a way of exchanging ideas — can’t be a bad thing.’