Psychologist Kruger is getting Reds to park poor mental habits
SPORTS psychology is a hot-button issue in Irish rugby right now in the wake of the IRFU’s finding that Ireland suffered from performance anxiety ahead of their World Cup quarter-final.
At Munster, they’ve engaged the services of a man who wrote the paper on the topic.
Professor Pieter Kruger has been working with the squad since the summer of 2018, having previously been a colleague of Johann van Graan at the Springboks before and after the 2015 World Cup in England.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the South African who has worked across the sporting spectrum, with Chelsea and Arsenal in the Premier League, UK Athletics and Great Britain Rowing in 2012 and with a host of top-end rugby teams since earning his doctorate in psychology from the Northwest University in his native land.
There, his thesis was titled ‘Psychological skills, state anxiety and coping of South African rugby players: A cognitive perspective’. One wonders if David Nucifora should order a copy.
Preparation
For now, it is the Munster players who have been working with Kruger to improve their mental preparation and performance. When he first came in, he presented himself to the whole squad before giving each player a detailed, hour-long psychological test to establish their strengths and areas to improve on.
Since then, he’s spent a week at a time at the province’s High Performance Centre, meeting with players to go through their individual issues.
Based between London and South Africa, he linked up with them when they played PRO14 games in the Rainbow Nation and attends their games in the UK and is expected to be part of their entourage at Allianz Park as they look to break a major barrier by beating Saracens away.
Each case is different. Speaking to the42.ie last season, Billy Holland outlined how Kruger had established his penchant for being able to switch on quickly and how that had benefited his confidence and preparation.
Meanwhile, loosehead prop James Cronin has been leaning on Kruger for support as he makes his way back from a serious knee injury and subsequent recurring hamstring problems.
“You know, you kind of feel isolated a small bit and yeah, it was a really tough time,” the Corkman explained. “I suppose that’s the part of rugby that people don’t see, that when you’re not in the squad or can’t be picked, they’re nearly the harder moments than actually going out there and performing at the weekend.
So, it’s good to be on the other side of it again.
“Pieter comes over and we have one-on-one slots with him. They’re really beneficial, you’re nearly venting in there with him for an hour; your frustration, so that’s really positive.
“It’s good, you can come in and bounce things off him, he’s not here all the time, he comes in and comes out and that’s nearly a good thing because he can see the difference in the mood in the camp, like, from last week to this week.
“We’ll say he’s with us for the
Champions Cup weekend over in Ospreys to, say, next weekend over in London, he’ll be able to pick up what’s the vibe in the camp and if there’s any difference.
“It’s good for us that he may be able to tip Johann off if we’re not on point or he could go, ‘Jesus, they’re really on point this week’, so it’s positive.” Back in 2015, Duane Vermeulen outlined the psychologist’s input as the team bounced back from their opening-round defeat to Japan to come closest to defeating the brilliant All Blacks at the World Cup. “He sees body language; are you on a downwards slope or happy where you are?” the No 8 said. “If not, you get to sit with him for one-onones and he puts you in the right direction, shows you the right way of preparing yourself, as an individual or in the squad, to give your bit when needed and to keep quiet when nothing else is needed.”
Tomorrow, Munster face the toughest task in European rugby, away to Saracens, and they’ll be hoping their mental preparation has them in a good frame of mind.