Clubs urged to avoid burnout for returning England players
Damian Hopley, the chief executive of the Rugby Players’ Association, has urged Premiership clubs to adopt a common-sense approach to avoid burning out their returning England stars.
Eddie Jones’s squad returned from Japan yesterday having been in training camps since June. It is just 11 weeks until the start of the Six Nations, while the Premiership season, which concludes on June 20, 2020, is followed by England’s tour to Japan. The next year leads into the Lions series against South Africa, in which many England players are expected to be involved.
Under the new season structure that was agreed last year, players are limited to 35 match involvements (more than 20 minutes) per season and 30 full games. England players are also guaranteed one rest week.
However, while those are the agreed limits, Hopley does not want clubs to adopt a one-size-fits-all approach, arguing that the rest periods depend on the individual. Sale flanker Tom Curry, for instance, played every minute of every game for England, while Saracens-bound hooker Jack Singleton played just 12 minutes, against the United States on Sept 26.
“We have had a number of conversations within the Professional Game Board requesting open dialogue between directors of rugby, players and individual management plans of return to play,” Hopley
said. “Some players will clearly be desperate to play because they have not had a lot of game time. Others are in a different position. From Owen Farrell to Piers Francis or Anthony Watson to Ruaridh Mcconnochie there will be a different plan in place for each.
“It is just imperative that is agreed and communicated. You look at how the England players are emptying themselves in all the games, it is a superhuman effort.
“No one wants to see our top players broken, least of all the players themselves. It is about how we align our interests, players, clubs and countries – which is absolutely feasible – to give the players the optimum opportunity to succeed at club and international level. Those conversations have happened. I
think players just want some certainty around what that looks like.”
Sale director of rugby Steve Diamond expects many of his World Cup contingent, including Curry and Springbok scrum-half Faf de Klerk, to be involved in their opening Champions Cup match at Glasgow on Nov 16. However, he says he has eliminated full contact training during the season to ease the load.
“With a 40-week year, you can’t knock them about during the week,” Diamond said. “With training for us, Curry would not do any contact. In games, he has no regard for his own health, so we have to do what we can to look after him the rest of the time.”
Just as significant as the physical cost is the emotional toll of losing a World Cup final. Thanks in part to the RPA’S “Lift the Weight” campaign, players are far more open about discussing their mental health, and Hopley believes that has helped shift the culture at the clubs. “The leading coaches in the world, like Steve Hansen, are now talking about managing mental well-being, whereas four or eight years ago people would look at your sideways if you mentioned mental health,” Hopley said. “Now it is firmly on the agenda.”
Sixteen years ago, many of England’s World Cup winners were back in action the week after they returned and finished the season with a disastrous tour to New Zealand and Australia. It was a similar story after England reached the 2007 World Cup final.
“We all need to heed lessons from 2003 and 2007,” Hopley said. “We think about 2003 and the lack of foresight. I was in a board meeting and asked, ‘What plans are in place?’ Francis Baron said, ‘Don’t worry about that, it is all under control’, and the opportunity was missed. I don’t think that mistake will be repeated. With the physical and mental pressure on the players now, we have to give them the best possible opportunity to compete for club and country.”