Jeff Probyn: Why the shock over players injured in England training?
The simple logic that says playing for your country is far more challenging than playing for your club should make even the most club-centric coaches realise that there must be a difference.
Whether in the physicality, speed or just the mental alertness required to function and succeed in an international game, club players just don’t face the same challenges as internationals, giving the coaches of both completely different roles.
At international level, coaches have a group of players motivated by the opportunity to play for their country. Whether that be the historical longing to represent the country of your birth, or the £250,000-plus that being in the ten match-day squads brings on top of your club salary, the opportunity to be a part of the squad is what every England Qualified Player (EQP) wants.
What has to be remembered is, every player in the Elite Player Squad (EPS) wants to be in the matchday squad but to do that they have to show that somehow they are better than their squad ‘mates’.
It is a given that all the players will be fit and able to compete at the top of the club game and that they have the necessary skill set to stand out in the club game so what they have to do is show an ability to adapt to whatever is thrown at them.
For some it is as easy as being able to cover a multitude of positions, for others in the specialist positions, it is down to how the coach wants to play the game. For the rest it’s about being seen at the sessions and that means making stand-out efforts in training and practice matches.
It’s not just the players; international coaches are now expected to be a frontman for the media show that follows every international team.
Eddie Jones fits that bill with ease as he wisecracks his way through Press conference after Press conference but he still has to be an innovative coach that can find that little ‘something’ to inspire the team to victory.
Club coaches have a relatively easy job, sitting in the shadows, making the odd brief media interview when their team are on television and working with their players for months on end.
During that time they can discover the talents and limitations of each of their squad and be able to build a team performance to play a game within the capabilities of those players.
In other words, a club coach knows that not all players have what it takes to be an international, but at club level you can compensate for players’ weaknesses by choosing a game that plays to the strengths of the team and ‘carry’ a player for what he does well.
Contrary to what Wasps director of rugby Dai Young says, it is not a partnership of equals and can never be. A club has its group of followers supporting it through the long season and during that long season, the coach has the opportunity to experiment and fail as long as he achieves enough wins in the end.
The main competition for a club coach is always the league, so they can, and often do, rest players in other ‘less important’ competitions.
With the start of the European contests this weekend the difference of the importance that club coaches attach to the Challenge Cup as opposed to the Champions Cup is all too apparent as more young untried players get a run in the Challenge Cup games as opposed to full strength sides in the Champions Cup.
An international coach does not have that same luxury as he has only a few games (nine or 10) per season to make his mark. He has to assess players in a very different way from a club coach and that can only be done by taking players out of the ‘comfort zone’ of the consistent club training and playing regime.
Only then can you make a true assessment of a player’s ability and capabilities to play the different style of game that is international rugby.
Every generation has its ‘judo’ moment where different training methods are brought in to try to gain an edge, some work, some don’t.
As the game became more professional, even in the amateur days, more of these ‘new ideas’ were brought to the training field.
During my time we had a 5,000-metre run followed by 100 press-ups. Thankfully that ended when a new coach was appointed but then came the inclusion of shot put and hurdling.
Cross-country, running on sand, bike riding, rowing machines, wrestling, training with the Army and now judo, all have been used at some point in trying to improve their rugby players by various coaches.
As a player, you do whatever the coach wants because you want to be in that matchday squad at any level and if anyone asks, you say what a good idea and how useful it is, even if you really think it is a waste of time.
